Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vice-captain Nitish Rana is hopeful that star batter Shreyas Iyer can shrug off his injury concern and lead the franchise in IPL 2024. Iyer, who missed IPL 2023 due to injury, arrived at the KKR camp carrying a back issue. There has been rumours that Iyer might miss the first few games, with Rana set to lead KKR. Rana stepped up in Iyer’s absence and led KKR. However, the two-time champions failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing seventh in the points table.
Addressing Iyer’s fitness issue, Rana hoped that the star batter can lead the team throughout the season.
“Shreyas is back with the team and is quite fit. Of course he had fitness issues in the past and we cannot take anything for granted. I hope I do not have to take up this responsibility again, as we are hoping Shreyas leads in all the matches. Having said that, if a situation arises where I
have to wear the captain’s band again, I am ready for it. I was made the captain last year and that was the biggest thing for me. Although we did not achieve everything we wanted, yet it was the greatest experience for me,” Rana told the Times of India.
Despite KKR finishing seventh last season, Rana revealed that there is real optimism in the dressing room that the two-time champions can go all the way this time.
“This time, our team is very positive and you can feel it in the dressing room. There is a determination to win, which wasn’t so strong last year. Everyone is thinking about the trophy,” he added.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL 2024 squad: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain.
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