IPL 2025: Can new captain Rahane live up to KKR's expectations?

At 36, Ajinkya Rahane is the oldest of the 10 captains in IPL 2025 — an exception when most of the teams have new incumbents for the upcoming cycle. His standing in international cricket and maturity as a leader, coupled with the limited options at the disposal of reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders, looks to have tilted the scales in the favour of ‘Jinx’.

‘’It’s an honour to be nominated the captain of this wonderful franchise. As champions last season, it will be quite a challenge to meet the expectations but that’s why we play the game. I believe in keeping things simple and can assure you that we will give our best,’’ the mild-mannered Rahane said at the team’s season-opening press conference at Eden Gardens on Thursday.

The captaincy of KKR became a topic of wild guesses as soon as Shreyas Iyer — who led the team to its third title in 2024 — was released and the auction was over. As the KKR management broke the bank to swoop in on Venkatesh Iyer for a prohibitive Rs 23.75 crore, the perception was that the articulate batter from Madhya Pradesh could be given the role. Names of a few outsiders were also doing the rounds until Rahane began emerging as the accidental choice, despite doubts persisting over whether he would be an automatic choice in the playing XI for all the games.   

Incidentally, the Mumbaikar — whose IPL career took on a second lease of life when Mahendra Singh Dhoni began using him in an attacking avatar in the 2023 season — went unsold on the first day of the IPL auction in Riyadh. KKR roped him in for a base price of Rs 1.5 crore the next day, but Rahane could have hardly imagined at the time that he would get another shot at IPL captaincy in the home stretch of his career.

It was back in 2016 that Rahane last played a T20 game for India, while he was gradually phased out of the team’s white-ball scheme of things around the same time, despite having the game for it. When the team management under Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli were racking their brains over the crucial no. 4 spot in the 2019 ICC World Cup, Rahane was surprisingly ignored despite being in good nick and then plying his trade in the county championship.

The IPL and Rahane go back a long way together, as he is one of the few surviving players who started their careers from the inaugural 2008 edition of the league, and he has now turned out for six franchises. His longest stint was with Rajasthan Royals, whom he also led, and the now defunct Rising Pune Super Giants for a total of 25 matches — with only modest success.

What swung the verdict in favour of Rahane despite Venkatesh being billed as the preferred choice earlier in the year? Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, KKR CEO Venky Mysore toed a predictable line when he said: ‘’IPL is quite an intense tournament. Clearly, we think very well of Venkatesh Iyer but, at the same time, it (captaincy) is taxing on a youngster. We have seen a lot of people having lot of challenges with it as they go forward. It takes a very steady hand, takes a lot of maturity and experience, which we felt Ajinkya brings with him.’’

However, Venkatesh — designated as official vice-captain — will be very much part of the leadership group and can take over should Rahane be sitting out the odd game for the sake of team combination. The India veteran has opened the innings for Mumbai in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but in IPL, KKR are spoilt for choice up the order with the arrival of Quinton de Kock, Ramanullah Gurbaz and of course, the Sunil Narine option which worked like magic last year.  

Asked about his batting position during the media interaction, Rahane said: ‘’I have always played where team wanted me to play and ready to do so. There are still 8-9 days to go and we will take a call soon.’’

Seeing the pint-sized Rahane walk out for the toss will be a welcome sight for his fans. The question is: can he silence the doubters in the big role?