'Isse acha to mujhe captain bna dete' - Fans reacts as Nitish Rana replaces injured Shreyas Iyer as Kolkata captain in ITL 2023

Nitish Rana (Image credit: Twitter)

The Kolkata franchise on Monday announced Nitish Rana as their interim captain for the Indian T20 League 2023 season. Rana will lead the side in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who is currently sidelined with a back injury and it is not known when he will return to action. The announcement comes four days ahead of the 16th edition of the ITL, where 10 teams will compete against each other for a two-month period to lift the coveted trophy.

While the franchise is optimistic about Iyer's return in the later stages of the tournament, they hope that Rana, who has experience leading his state team in white-ball cricket, will do a better job for them.

"While we are hopeful that Shreyas will recover and participate at some stage in the ITL 2023 edition, we feel fortunate that Nitish, with captaincy experience having led his state side in white-ball cricket and the ITL experience he has had with Kolkata since 2018, will do a great job," the official Kolkata statement read.

The two-time ITL champions also assured the left-handed batter of getting all the support from the head coach and the experienced leaders of the squad.

"We are also confident that under Head Coach Chandrakant Pandit and the support staff, he will get all the support needed off the field, and the highly experienced leaders in the squad will provide all the support that Nitish may need on the field. We wish him the best in his new role and Shreyas a full and speedy recovery," it added.

Can Rana shine in his new role with Kolkata?

The 29-year-old has played 91 games so far in the men's T20 franchise cricket league and has scored 2181 runs at an average of 27.96. He also has 15 half-centuries with a high score of 87. Apart from Kolkata, Rana has also played for the Mumbai franchise in the ITL. He joined Kolkata in 2018 and scored more than 300 runs in each of the next five seasons. His previous experience of leading Delhi in the Indian domestic circuit may help his franchise win their third ITL title.

The ITL 2023 will begin on March 31 when the defending champions take on four-time champions Chennai at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, Kolkata will kick start their campaign against the Punjab franchise at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on April 1.

Here's how Twitter reacted to Nitish Rana's appointment as Kolkata captain:

FML! Is chapri tiktoker se acha koi nahi mila inhe , congratulations KKR for confirming 8th spot already

— vikkas (@viks15680) March 27, 2023

Felt bad when Mumbai did not retain him, loved his six hitting ability & attitude on the Field.

Always had a thought, one day he will be captaining the other side.

— Zerir (@Zerir_) March 27, 2023

Rinku Singh pic.twitter.com/VeWUIi7KCL

— Sanket Shah (@SanketS64861430) March 27, 2023

Poeple thought it's shardul or naraine
But rana came out of the box 🤣🤣

— RAKS WALKER (@RAKSWALKER) March 27, 2023

KKR fans after knowing Nitesh Rana will be their stand in captain.

KKR fans be like :) pic.twitter.com/Iq1W7CzXsu

— Shakti Man 💥 (@IamShaktiMann) March 27, 2023

He himself struggling to score runs for past 2 years 🙄

— cristalclear (@kalyanjac) March 27, 2023

Nitish Rana after getting a call that he is now a captain. pic.twitter.com/Qt25ICsHUr

— Dexter Murugan (@tyagi_langda) March 27, 2023

Kkr is a joke now 😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣

— Brucew tweets (SRH) 🧡🔶🔸. (@brucew_tweets) March 27, 2023

better choice as he will be featuring in almost all the games and also have captained delhi in domestic matches.

— Anant Kashyap (@theanantkashyap) March 27, 2023