Kolkata Knight Riders has announced the new captain for IPL Season 16. Star batsman Nitish Rana will take charge of KKR in IPL Season 16. Nitish Rana, with whom he has been associated in recent years, has been named team captain in place of Shreyas Iyer. Due to injury, Iyer will not be able to be a part of IPL season 16.
Nitish Rana has been associated with KKR since 2018. Although earlier the names of Shardul Thakur, Narine and Russell were also listed as the new KKR captain. But the franchise has given him the responsibility of the captaincy, expressing confidence in the Indian hitter. This will be the first time Rana will be seen leading a team in the IPL.
As a batsman, Rana’s record in IPL has been much better. Nitish Rana made his debut in 2016 for the Mumbai Indians. In his own second season, Rana attracted everyone’s attention by scoring over 300 runs. However, prior to the 2018 mega auction, KKR had signed Nitish Rana. Since then, Rana has played five seasons for the franchise.
Why did he get command of the team
Talking about Rana’s record so far, he has scored 2181 runs in 91 matches at an average of 28. Rana has also scored 15 half centuries in IPL. However, despite playing in the top order, Nitish is yet to add a century in the IPL. In the year 2021, Nitish Rana also got a chance to make his ODI and T20 debut for Team India on tour of Sri Lanka.
Rana took command of the team due to Shreyas Iyer’s injury. Last year, KKR had associated Iyer with the team as captain. But in the last year, Iyer has to face the problem of back pain. Iyer’s back pain resurfaced in the recently played Test series against Australia and it may take him more than 6 months to return to the field.
