Only a season after becoming the Indian Premier League champions for the third time in their history, Kolkata Knight Riders released their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Iyer was not included in KKR's retention list and the India international was eventually picked by Punjab Kings in the auction, who spent a whopping INR 26.75 crore to secure the move.
KKR, on the other hand, bought experienced campaigner Ajinkya Rahane in the auction and ahead of the IPL 2025 season, the Mumbai-born cricketer was named as the franchise's new leader.
Under Rahane's leadership, KKR made a decent start to the season but they eventually faded as their performances dropped and eventually sixth on the points table and failed to secure a play-offs berth.
Ahead of a brand new IPL 2026 season, KKR have released a series of players, including franchise legend Andre Russell, as they look to buy a completely new set of overseas stars at the mini-auction next month.
While Rahane has been retained by the franchise for the next season, they are unlikely to keep him as the captain of the side. A KKR fan account on X recently spotted that the team has removed the captain's tag from Rahane's profile on their website, which is a clear indication that the franchise is in search of a new leader.
The captaincy tag has been removed from Ajinkya Rahane's profile on KKR website. Pic.twitter.com/5qgAGQTU2I
— KnightRidersXtra (@KKR_Xtra) November 17, 2025
Who will be the captain of KKR in IPL 2026?
KKR are set to head into the auction room with the highest purse among all 10 teams, after reducing their squad to just 12 players.
The three-time IPL winners will look to add some experience to their ranks after releasing several stars ahead of the mini auction.
Some of the options they could explore, purely for captaincy purposes, are former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, experienced New Zealand Devon Conway and England's wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow.
Faf du Plessis: Faf has led the South African national team with distinction and was also the captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru for quite some time. An explosive opening batsman with years of leadership experience might just be the perfect option for KKR.
Devon Conway: The former CSK star did not enjoy a great 2025 season. He can be a quality option at the top of the order for KKR, with an IPL strike rate of 139.71, where he can certainly work. His experience could also come in handy in terms of captaincy.
Jonny Bairstow: Over the years, Bairstow has shown good consistency in his IPL stints with the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings and played impactful knocks for the Mumbai Indians last season. As an experienced IPL wicketkeeper-batter, he is another player that KKR can target.
Among the existing squad members, KKR could hand over the role to Sunil Narine or Varun Chakravarthy or they could even consider giving it to the young and dynamic Rinku Singh, who has been with the franchise for several years now.