Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be on the lookout for a new captain after Ajinkya Rahane announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, including the Indian Premier League (IPL). Rahane captained KKR in two seasons in IPL 2025 and 2026, without much success.
KKR has several contenders that are capable of leading the team thanks to their great core, which includes both veteran stars and exciting young players. The team’s goal is to select a leader who can guide them into the next stage of their journey while building on the team’s foundation.
Here are the 3 players who can lead the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2027:
3. Angkrish Raghuvanshi
Angkrish Raghuvanshi is one of the young players who are being groomed by the KKR franchise. He joined the franchise in IPL 2024 and has scored 885 runs in 35 games, with a strike rate of 145.55, 7 fifties, and a best score of 82*. Raghuvanshi is just 22 years old and can be a left-field choice for captaincy. He will be a long-term investment by KKR if made captain and will solve their leadership issue for the next decade or so.
2. Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine is the leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket with 646 scalps in 607 games, at a strike rate of 6.15, with best bowling figures of 5/19. He has been with the KKR franchise since IPL 2012 and has 207 wickets in 202 games. Narine has captained different teams in different T20 leagues with varied degrees of success.
KKR can hand Narine captaincy as a stop-gap solution until the IPL 2028 mega auction happens, and they can find someone better to lead them. Narine deserves one shot at captaincy after his long association with the franchise.
1. Rinku Singh
Rinku Singh was named the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vice-captain in IPL 2026, replacing Venkatesh Iyer. Rinku had made his IPL debut in 2018, and since then has made 1394 runs in 73 games with 6 fifties and a strike rate of 145.96. Rinku has captained the Uttar Pradesh team in domestic cricket and also led his franchise to the local UPT20 title as well. It remains to be seen if KKR trusts him with captaincy or would get a stopgap arrangement, giving Rinku one more year to learn the ropes of captaincy.
