IPL 2023: Nitish Rana to lead Kolkata Knight Riders in Shreyas Iyer's injury-enforced absence

Kolkata Knight Riders have announced Nitish Rana as their captain for IPL 2023 as their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer continues his recovery from a back issue that has ruled him out of at least the first half of the tournament. The franchise confirmed the development on March 27 on their socials, expressing hope that Iyer "will recover and participate at some stage" in the tournament. 

Rana was believed to be the frontrunner alongside Sunil Narine, with the latter having served the franchise since 2012 and also having led the KKR-owned Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the inaugural ILT20 in UAE this year. However, the management has entrusted the responsibility to Rana, "with the captaincy experience of having led his state side in white-ball cricket and the IPL experience he has had with KKR since 2018".

Rana, who has played a solitary ODI and two T20Is for India, has won eight of the 12 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy fixtures he has led his state team Delhi in. For the KKR, he has been a reliable middle-order batter, having scored 1744 runs at an average of 27.68 and a strike rate of 135.61, including 11 half-centuries from 2018 to 2022. The 29-year-old's consistency can be gauged from the fact that he has scored over 300 runs in as many as six of his seven IPL seasons. Overall, in the tournament, he has 2181 runs at 134.22 in 85 innings with 15 half-centuries.

"While we are hopeful that Shreyas will recover and participate at some stage in the IPL 2023 edition, we feel fortunate that Nitish, with the captaincy experience of having led his state side in white-ball cricket and the IPL experience he has had with KKR since 2018, will do a great job," KKR said in a statement.

"We are also confident that under head coach Chandrakant Pandit and the support staff, he will get all the support needed off the field, and the highly experienced leaders in the squad will provide all support that Nitish may need on the field. We wish him the best in his new role and Shreyas a full and speedy recovery," it read further.

As for Iyer, there is no set date for his return as he remains under the supervision of BCCI's medical staff at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Iyer had to recently leave the Ahmedabad Test - the fourth and final of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy - midway through owing to the recurrence of his back issue. He was ruled out of the subsequent home ODIs against Australia, after having missed the first Test in Nagpur as well as the preceding white-ball series against New Zealand at home due to the same problem.

IPL 2023 kicks off on March 31, while KKR will begin their proceedings against the Punjab Kings on April 1.