Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) face a pressing issue surrounding their captaincy for the next Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) season. The three-time IPL winners were in the pursuit of Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals (RR) but his reported trade to CSK have now ended KKR’s hopes of finding an opening wicketkeeper-batter who can also lead the side.
Incidentally, KKR have been on the lookout for a leadership candidate ever since the start of last season after letting go of Shreyas Iyer. KKR also splurged NR 23.75 cr on Venkatesh Iyer at the mega-auction last time around, which gave rise to speculations that the all-rounder was the franchise’s next choice as captain. However, the Kolkata management eventually decided to hand over the responsibility to Ajinkya Rahane, given his previous captaincy credentials.
Rahane’s captaincy was at most average as KKR finished the season in the bottom half of the points table at eighth with just five wins from 14 games. Thus, going into the new IPL 2026 season, the question once again looms over the franchise.
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Given the current scenario, it is understood that Ajinkya Rahane, who will be retained by KKR will in all likelihood continue leading the team in the next edition too. Although KKR have Venkatesh Iyer in the ranks, it is anticipated that he will be released given his high price, which rules him out as a potential contender.
KKR also have the likes of Varun Chakravarthy, who has been with the franchise for six seasons and understands the ethos well. Furthermore, the star Indian spinner was recently also named as the leader of his state side Tamil Nadu for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT 2025).
The new role can be a likely audition for Varun for a potential captaincy role at KKR if he manages to deliver results. Rinku Singh is another name who has been associated with the franchise for an extended period and has experience of leading the Meerut Mavericks in the UPT20 League.
As of now, Varun and Rinku are just mere contenders while Rahane remains the frontrunner to marshal the KKR troops in IPL 2026.
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