KKR finished eighth in the IPL 2025 table
Ajinkya Rahane’s tenure as Kolkata Knight Riders was riddled with too many complexities. The Mumbai red-ball captain was fresh off a superb campaign in the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) where he finished as the top-scorer for champions Mumbai with 469 from eight innings at an average of 58 and a strike rate of 164.
He had to captain a side that looked settled on the paper but was riddled with a title-win lethargy and dearly missed the talismanic captaincy of Shreyas Iyer who moved to Punjab Kings after a public spat with the KKR management.
He began the season with a brilliant 56 off 31 balls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and scored two fifties against Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans and three more 30-plus scores.
Even though his form was better than most of the batters in the KKR line-up, Rahane was unable to hit the high of his SMAT 2024 campaign.
Leading a team which didn’t have the majority of the leadership group from the title-winning season, including batting coach Gautam Gambhir, proved to be a difficult task for Rahane.
An abandoned game followed by a humiliating capitulation against Punjab Kings while chasing 111 took the life out of KKR’s campaign as they finished the season at eighth in the table.
It might be a brief stay for Rahane, who was brought in for his experience and form while acting as a bridge before KKR names their next captain. They might pick some options at the auction. But here are three names from within the current squad that KKR will look at if Rahane is released into the IPL 2026 auction.
MAL
–
HKG
–
WI
–
AUS
–
WI
–
AUS
–
RWA
25/3
BHN
163/6
BHN
–
ML
–
RWA
–
ML
–
ROM
128/9
AUST
129/3
Austria won by 7 wickets
HUN
–
ROM
–
HUN
–
LUX
–
ROM
–
LUX
–
HUN
–
AUST
–
AUST
–
LUX
–
ALZ
114/2
RPH
108/6
Alby Zalmi CC won by 8 wickets
MAR
92/5
HDN
–
MAR
–
ALZ
–
HDN
–
RPH
–
MAR
–
HDN
–
ALZ
–
JIHCC
–
RPH
–
MAR
–
JIHCC
–
ALZ
–
RPH
–
JIHCC
–
ALZ
–
RPH
–
BOT-W
–
MWW-W
–
EWW-W
–
LSN-W
–
RWA-W
–
SLO-W
–
CW-W
–
MZW-W
–
FEK
–
RLC
–
KRMPS
–
ALECC
–
GUJCC
–
SUL
–
FRC
79/3
UTC
77/7
Fatemi Resources Cricket Club beat Utkal Cricket Club by 7 wickets
JBK
97/3
MKP
99/4
MR KB Putrajaya won by 6 wickets
KLG
61/6
MXC
62/5
Maxx Cricket Club beat KL Gladiators by 5 wickets
SWCL
76/0
MBMS
–
FRC
–
KLG
–
JBK
–
SWCL
–
UTC
–
MXC
–
MKP
–
MBMS
–
KNY
124/8
UGA
65/2
NIG
–
NBA
–
UAE
–
NIG
–
KNY
–
NBA
–
YAR
–
MMS
–
MAK
166/3
ASS
165/7
Mis Ainak Knights won by 7 wickets
BAD
–
SGT
–
MAK
–
BDS
–
ASS
–
SGT
–
WIU19-W
–
USAU19-W
–
PNC
–
SAC
–
IAC
–
AAC
–
PNC
–
WIC
–
NZ
–
SA
–
IRE-W
–
ZIM-W
–
The most likely option for KKR’s long-term plan after he was named as the vice-captain for the IPL 2025. In order to give him the promotion, KKR also shelled out INR 23.75 crore for the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder in the auction. Even though he has hit a terrible slump with just 142 runs from seven innings, KKR are likely to put faith in the 30-year-old to lead them into the future.
After many years of looking for Andre Russell’s successor, KKR locked in on Rinku Singh in 2018 and has managed to keep the left-hander in their books for seven seasons now. Rinku has benefited hugely from an environment that has put him on the national team’s reckoning and brought him the closest to becoming an official world champion in 2024.
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The 27-year-old is now a regular in the national team at No.6 in T20Is and being handed the reins of KKR might be that offer Rinku can’t refuse.
A surprise pick for sure, considering the Tamil Nadu spinner has had a start-stop career. But there are very few players in T20 cricket with the game-reading skills like Varun. Even for an underwhelming IPL 2025, the spinner has 17 wickets at an average of 22 and an economy of 7.66. He has the experience of leading teams in the Tamil Nadu Premier League which should come in handy if KKR are to consider an alternative option for captaincy in 2026. Even though he might not be a long-term option, his current form put Varun above other experienced players.
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