Tata IPL 2025: KKR appoints Ajinkya Rahane as captain, Venkatesh Iyer to be his deputy

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season to begin from March 22, Shah Rukh Khan-led Kolkata Knight Riders have officially named Ajinkya Rahane as their skipper, while Venkatesh Iyer will be the vice-captain.

The Tata IPL 2024 winner KKR will play their first match on March 22 against Rajat Patidar-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Making the announcement on X, KKR CEO Venky Mysore said, “We are delighted to have someone like Ajinkya Rahane, who brings his experience and maturity as a leader. Also Venkatesh Iyer has been a franchise player for KKR and brings a lot of leadership qualities. We are confident that they will combine well as we start the defence of our title.”

Apart from this, KKR also posted a poster of Ajinkya Rahane of their X profile, writing, “𝕂night. 𝕂aptain. ℝahane.”

Commenting on being named as KKR skipper, Akinkya Rahane took to X and wrote, “Honored and excited to lead @KKRiders in the upcoming IPL season! Looking forward to the challenge and giving it our all. Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo 💪🔥 #IPL2025”

Earlier in the day, KKR made an announcement that its players will be wearing Golden Badge on the Jersey from IPL 2025. With this, KKR will become the first team to wear in the league.

KKR deputy skipper: Venkatesh Iyer

KKR new deputy skipper Venkatesh Iyer became the third expensive buy in IPL 2025 mega auction after Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, when the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured the all-rounder's services for a whopping ₹23.75 crore.

Having joined KKR in 2020, Venkatesh has been an integral part of the Kolkata-franchise, impressive everyone in his debut season in Dubai. in his 10 games in 2020 IPL, Venkatesh scored 350 runs en route to KKR's road to final. Overall, Venkatesh has scored 1326 runs so far in 51 matches, all for KKR.

In fact, Venkatesh became the second KKR batter after 15 years in 2023 to score a hundred in IPL. He even scored a fifty in the IPL 2024 final against which they won against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

KKR in IPL Auction 2025:

In the IPL Auction 2025, KKR retained Rinku Singh ( ₹13 crore), Varun Chakaravarthy ( ₹12 crore), Sunil Narine ( ₹12 crore), Andre Russell ( ₹11 crore), Harshit Rana ( ₹4 crore) and Ramandeep Singh ( ₹4 crore).

While they acquired the services of Venkatesh Iyer, KKR also roped in Umran Malik and Australian Spencer Johnson, got back Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Vaibhav Arora and bought South African duo of Anrich Nortje and Quinton de Kock.

Here' KKR's full list of players bought in IPL 2025:

Venkatesh Iyer ( ₹23.75 crore), Quinton de Kock ( ₹3.60 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz ( ₹2 crore), Anrich Nortje ( ₹6.50 crore), Angkrish Raghuvanshi ( ₹3 crore), Vaibhav Arora ( ₹1.80 crore), Mayank Markande ( ₹30 lakh), Rovman Powell ( ₹1.50 crore), Manish Pandey ( ₹75 lakh), Spencer Johnson ( ₹2.80 crore), Luvnith Sisodia ( ₹30 lakh), Ajinkya Rahane ( ₹1.50 lakh), Anukul Roy ( ₹40 lakh), Moeen Ali ( ₹2 crore), Umran Malik ( ₹75 lakh).