Ajinkya Rahane, the former Indian captain, retired from all forms of cricket on Thursday. After serving the Indian team for 15 long years, Rahane on Thursday posted a video on social media, captioning “ Cap 278 Signing off.” His retirement created a vacancy in the KKR dressing room as they now have to find a new captain. The 38-year-old Indian veteran has led the franchise in two seasons, 2025 and 2026, his time in KKR remained in the shadow, in both of the seasons, KKR failed to create momentum in the tournament. 

In the 2026 season, KKR in an event in Kolkata announced Ajinkya Rahane as captain and Rinku Singh as vice-captain. However, Rinku Singh also had not had a great time this year. 

In IPL 2026, KKR failed to win the first five matches but then showed a great turnaround. Over the years, KKR has failed to find stability in their captaincy and the core leadership group, now without Rahane and senior players retired, will need to regroup their core. 

Ajinkya Rahane’s retired from all forms of cricket.
ZOOM IMAGE
Ajinkya Rahane’s retirement left a vacuum in the KKR dressing room. | X/@Imtanujsingh

Recently, rumours came in that KKR is keen to bring in Hardik Pandya, though it has not been confirmed till now. 

Abhishek Nayar and group have a job to do for KKR  

In the 2024 season, when KKR won the trophy under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy and Gautam Gambhir’s mentorship, Abhishek Nayar was present in the KKR dugout as assistant head coach, he again joined the KKR team as head coach in the 2026 season.

Now to fill the vacancy of captaincy, they might want to go for an Indian player. KKR has not had many experienced Indian players in the team. Will it be Rinku Singh or anyone else, Nayar and company must have been thinking. 

Options KKR can go for 

Rinku Singh- Profound Indian batter with match-winning capabilities, right now, Rinku is the frontrunner for KKR captaincy, he has connected with the KKR family for a few years now and also recently played a major part in the leadership group as vice captain. 

Rinku Singh in the race for KKR captaincy.
ZOOM IMAGE
Rinku Singh announced as vice captain for KKR in 2026. | X/@imtanujsingh

Sunil Narine- Almost the synonym of KKR, who can bring in vast experience to any side, with leadership capabilities. KKR can see him as captain. He has given almost 12 years to this team and remained one of the main integral parts of the KKR  franchise. 

Sunil Narine is also in the captaincy race of KKR.
ZOOM IMAGE
Sunil Narine has been with KKR for 12 years. | X/@imtanujsingh

Other than that, Rovman Powell, is one of the players who can be seen as captain. Powell has remained West Indies captain between 2022 and 2024 and captained 37 times. 

With just one year left to complete the cycle, KKR can go for a stopgap captain but it will not resolve their captaincy problems as while most teams have found themselves in a transition phase, KKR will have to build a completely new core looking at their future.