Delhi: IPL 2024 champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had released their captain Shreyas Iyer before the mega auction. KKR could not bring him back to their team in this auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Punjab Kings (PBKS) bought Iyer for Rs 26.75 crore. This was the second most expensive purchase in IPL history. In the first place, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bought Rishabh Pant for Rs 27 crore.
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KKR included many big names in its team, like Ajinkya Rahane, Quinton de Kock and Anrich Norkhia. Speculation continues regarding the new captain of the team, and it is being said that Rinku Singh can be given this responsibility.
23.75 crores spent on Venkatesh Iyer
However, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif believes that Venkatesh Iyer can take over the captaincy of KKR in 2025. He said that Iyer’s Madhya Pradesh coach Chandrakant Pandit, who is also the coach of KKR, can prove helpful in his captaincy.
Kaif said, “KKR has spent Rs 23.75 crore on Venkatesh Iyer, which points towards his captaincy. “Chandrakant Pandit’s guidance will help Iyer to become a big player.”
KKR’s 2025 squad
Rinku Singh, Varun Chakraborty, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 crore), Quinton de Kock (Rs 3.60 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Rs 2 crore), Enrique Norkhia (Rs 6.50 crore). , Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Rs 3 crore), Vaibhav Arora (Rs 1.80 crore), Mayank Markande (Rs 30 lakh), Rovman Powell (Rs 1.50 crore), Manish Pandey (Rs 75 lakh), Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 1.50 crore), Moeen Ali (Rs 2 crore), Umran Malik (Rs 75 lakh).
Giving captaincy opportunity to Venkatesh Iyer could be a new beginning for KKR.