Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) recently announced the return of their former skipper Gautam Gambhir as a mentor and the retention and release list ahead of the deadline saw the two-time champs opening up quite a few slots to beef up their salary purse.
The Knights now have Rs 32.7 crore for the mini-auction on December 19.
There are 12 available slots, including four overseas, for KKR to fill in Dubai but before action gets underway on the table, the franchise is already in a huddle with regards to captaincy for the upcoming season.
In absence of the injured Shreyas Iyer, Delhi batter Nitish Rana, who now plays for Uttar Pradesh in the domestic circuit, was in charge of the side that finished seventh on the points table of the 2023 edition. Iyer, who had moved base to KKR from DC in the 2022 edition, was the original skipper for 2023 but a back injury forced him to miss the entire season and allowed to Rana lead the side.
It is reliably understood that Rana has new mentor Gambhir’s backing to continue as skipper for the 2024 edition too. No formal decision has been made in this regard yet but former India cricketer backing Rana is likely to create some unrest in the KKR camp ahead of the season where they are looking to press the reset button to return to glory days.
Gambhir’s weight behind Rana doesn’t come as a surprise as the India stalwart has backed the left-hander since his early days with the Delhi side. Both Gambhir and Rana share the same coach Sanjay Bharadwaj, and have together spent hours training at LB Shastri Cricket Academy in New Delhi.
As far as Iyer is concerned, he is facing a situation which he had faced during his days with the Delhi Capitals. In 2021, the explosive right-hander missed one-half of the COVID-19 affected IPL due to a shoulder injury but even when he was available for the second leg in UAE, DC decided to continue with Rishabh Pant. Iyer played under Pant for the second half of the tournament but there were signs that he will not stay long at DC without the captaincy armband and was eventually released ahead of the mega auction in 2022.
KKR, who were in a leadership crisis of sorts at that point, roped him in for Rs 12.25 crore and announced the right-hander as captain. He led them in 2022, missed the 2023 season because of injury and there is uncertainty around him leading the side in the 2024 edition. The 29-year-old managed 401 runs in 14 games as KKR captain in the 2022 edition where the side struggled and finished on the seventh spot of the points table.
It now remains to be seen whether KKR continue with stand-in captain Rana or give the charge back to Iyer.
Retained players: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Released players: Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, Aarya Desai, David Wiese, Shardul Thakur, Narayan Jagadeesan, Mandeep Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Johnson Charles
Auction purse: Rs 32.70 crore
Available slots: 12, including four for overseas players
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