Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur Leading Contenders For KKR Captaincy, Announcement SOON- Report
New Delhi: Less than a week to go for the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League and 2-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders are yet to decide their captain for the upcoming season.
Shreyas Iyer, the usual captain has been seemingly ruled out of the cash-rich league for a back injury and as per a report by TOI, it has come to light that IPL and KKR legend Sunil Narine and the Kolkata side’s newest recruit Shardul Thakur are the leading the race to be the new skipper of the franchise.
The announcement is expected in a couple days. There will a grand function, with owner and Bollywood Superstar Shah Rukh Khan all set to light up the occasion.
”Within a day or two, KKR are set to make the announcement of their new captain in a grand function, with their owner, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and an overseas pop star set to light up the occasion”, a source told TOI.
Narine has been part of the franchise for over a decade now and a senior player will know, what it means to lead the side. He has captained the Knight Riders’ sister team- Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the ILT20, but had a disastrous season.
On the other hand, Shardul who has got himself a reputation of a bowler who can bat aggressively is another choice, the management is looking forward to. As a player he is very much handy, but we have to see how he fares as a leader, when given a chance.
KKR will open their campaign against Shikhar Dhawan’s Punjab Kings on 1st April in an afternoon game at the PCA stadium in Mohali. There are also reports doing the rounds that Iyer can return during the season break but nothing is confirmed as of yet.
KKR Squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, Narayan Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Weise, Kulwant Khejrolia, Mandeep Singh, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan.