Shreyas Iyer Named KKR Captain for IPL 2024 Comeback

After being forced to miss the IPL 2023 season owing to injuries, Shreyas Iyer rejoins the team as captain.

(Cricket News) After missing the 2023 season due to a back injury, Shreyas Iyer will captain Kolkata Knight Riders again in the Twenty24 IPL season. Nitish Rana, who served as the team’s vice-captain in the previous IPL season, will captain the team for the twenty24 IPL season.

Iyer was acquired by KKR for INR 12.25 crore (roughly USD 1.5 million) ahead of the Twenty22 IPL season, and he led the team to a seventh-place finish with six wins and eight defeats. However, a back injury sustained in April 2023 prevented him from participating in the World Test Championship final that summer.

“I am happy that KKR has named Nitish vice captain. It will strengthen the leadership group. I believe the last season presented us with several challenges, including my absence due to injury,” Iyer said in a statement.

“A lot has changed at KKR since Iyer was their captain. Previously, he led the side with Brendon McCullum as coach. Now, he will work with Chandrakant Pandit and new team mentor Gautam Gambhir. It was under Gambhir’s captaincy that KKR won their only two IPL titles – in 2012 and 2014.”

Iyer’s first IPL captaincy came in 2018, when he succeeded Gambhir at Delhi Daredevils midway through the season. Prior to the IPL player auction on December 19, KCR had released 12 players, including Lockie Ferguson, Shardul Thakur, and Umesh Yadav. They have a purse of INR 32.7 crore to spend. Iyer previously worked with Pandit in the Mumbai state set-up in his formative years and alongside Gambhir briefly at Delhi Daredevils.

“KKR CEO Venky Mysore expressed his happiness that captain Shreyas is back and leading the team. It was unfortunate that he missed the 2023 Indian Premier League due to injury, but we are grateful that he has recovered well and shown great form.” “We are also thankful that Nitish stepped up to replace Shreyas last season and did an excellent job; there is no doubt Nitish as vice-captain will support Shreyas in every way for the benefit of #TeamKKR.”