Kolkata Knight Riders are among the most successful IPL teams eine its inception of the league in 2025. They have won the title thrice with their most recent win coming in IPL 2024. They won their third IPL title under Shreyas Iyer's captaincy with Gautam Gambhir as the mentor.
KKR finished at the top of the points table and then finally beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final to lift their third IPL title. Heading into IPL 2025, they are the defending champions of the Indian Premier League.
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Ajinkya Rahane To Lead KKR In IPL 2025
KKR announced Ajinkya Rahane as their captain for the season. Rahane won the Irani Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with Mumbai and will now become the new captain of KKR. Venkatesh Iyer will be KKR's vice-captain. KKR CEO Venky Mysore explained why Rahane and not Iyer was chosen as the captain of the franchise this season.
"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 lots of people having lots 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. He has played 185 IPL games, 200 [195] international games across formats," Mysore said. "He has led India, led Mumbai in domestic, he's led in IPL. And he has played from season one of IPL. All that is massive. There should be no surprise at all [on appointing Rahane as captain]" said Mysore to ESPN Cricinfo.
Meanwhile, if reports are to be believed then Kolkata Knight Riders are bringing back their iconic black and gold jersey that they wore back in 2008. It was in the inaugural season that Brendon McCullum set the IPL alight with his unbeaten 158 against RCB in the opening encounter of the tournament.
18 years later, in 2025, KKR are likely to bring back their popular black and gold jersey that became a big trend in the inaugural season. The Knight Riders are likely to wear the jersey for their away matches. The season begins with KKR taking on RCB at the Eden Gardens on March 22. The Qualifier 2 (May 23) and the final (May 25) will also be played in Kolkata this year.
Almost all the players who will play for the Kolkata Knight Riders have joined the squad. Chandrakant Pandit will continue to remain as the head coach of the side. Ottis Gibson has been appointed as KKR's assistant coach and Dwayne Bravo, the mentor of the franchise in IPL 2025.
Also Read: IPL 2025 Opening Ceremony: Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Dhawan And Arijit Singh To Dazzle At Season Opener
