In what comes as a significant development in the Indian Premier League (IPL) circuit, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore announced on Thursday (December 14) that Shreyas Iyer will return as the captain of the team in IPL 2024. The announcement from KKR comes days ahead of the auction set to happen in Dubai on December 19. Meanwhile, while Nitish Rana who had to step in as the captain after Shreyas was ruled out of IPL 2023 due to injury has been named the vice-captain this time around.
"It was indeed unfortunate that Shreyas missed IPL 2023 due to injury. We are delighted that he's back and at the helm as Captain. The way he has worked hard to recover from his injury and the form he has displayed is a testament to his character," Venky said as quoted in an official release.
Gautam Gambhir Reunites With KKR
Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir has reunited with his former franchise. While Gambhir was the skipper of the team that had managed to go on to lift the IPL trophy in 2012 and 2014, he now returns in the capacity of a mentor. The same was confirmed by the franchise last month.
The Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise, meanwhile, took the opportunity to thank Nitish for stepping in to lead the the team in IPL 2023.
"We are also grateful that Nitish had agreed to step into Shreyas's shoes last season and did a great job. There's no doubt Nitish as Vice Captain will support Shreyas in every possible way for the benefit of #TeamKKR," KKR said.
Kolkata Knight Riders 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.
Kolkata Knight Riders 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.