The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have an urgent matter regarding their captaincy for the next Indian Premier League (IPL) season. The three-time IPL winners have been trying to acquire Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals (RR), but his alleged move to CSK has now dashed KKR’s hopes of getting a wicketkeeper-batter who can open and lead the side.
Coincidentally, KKR have been scouting a leadership figure since the start of last season after parting ways with Shreyas Iyer. KKR also spent NR 23.75 cr on Venkatesh Iyer at the last mega-auction, which led to speculation that the all-rounder was the franchise’s next choice for captaincy. Nevertheless, the management of Kolkata ultimately made a decision to appoint Ajinkya Rahane, based on his captaincy experience.
Rahane’s leadership was mediocre at best as KKR ended the season in the lower half of the table at eight with just five wins in 14 matches. Thus, in the new IPL 2026 season the question about the team’s captain once again looms over.
Captain of KKR for IPL 2026 is Still a Question Mark?
The present situation says that Johannesburg Rahane, who is to be KKR’s top player, will indeed continue to lead the team in the next season. Even though KKR has a promising player in Venkatesh Iyer, but it is most likely he will be released due to the high retention price, hence he is ruled out as a possible contender.
KKR’s roster also includes Varun Chakravarthy who is in the team for six years and knows the team culture well. In addition, lately, the star Indian spinner was appointed as the captain of his state team Tamil Nadu for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT 2025).
The new role can be seen as a possible tryout for Varun for KKR captaincy if he is able to bring in the wins. Rinku Singh is another player that has been with the franchise for a long time and has the experience of captaining the Meerut Mavericks in the UPT20 League.
Currently, Varun and Rinku are just possibilities while Rahane still stands out as KKR’s commander in IPL 2026.
