A big update has been released on the possible captaincy change of Kolkata Knight Riders in the middle of IPL. Instead, Rinku Singh has been favored to replace Ajinkya Rahane midway through the tournament.
Kolkata Knight Riders did not make a promising start to their campaign in IPL 2026 as they started with two consecutive losses. They lost their first match of the season against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.
On the other hand, they returned to the Eden Gardens for their second match of the season, which was against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the second match of the competition, SRH team defeated by 65 runs.
Rinku Singh will be the captain of KKR in place of Ajinkya Rahane.
Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy has faced a lot of criticism in this edition of the competition. After two consecutive defeats in the competition, the KKR stalwart may soon be asked to step down from his role.
Ray Sports reporter Sandipan Banerjee, in conversation with Abhishek Tripathi and Ankar Kar, revealed that the KKR camp could see a major change midway through the season. Kolkata Knight Riders can hand over the responsibility of captaincy to a new captain.
Rinku Singh has been considered for this role. Rinku was seen leading the KKR team during the second innings of the game against MI, when KKR failed to defend the mammoth score of 220 runs.
There is every possibility that Rinku Singh will be the captain of KKR till the middle of the season.
There was a fear of Rahane being dismissed midway through the tournament.
-luminescence [Ray Sportz] pic.twitter.com/VjWS59tAFv– KKR Vibe (@KnightsVibe) 3 April 2026
KKR is struggling under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane
Kolkata Knight Riders appointed Ajinkya Rahane as the replacement captain after Shreyas Iyer was released ahead of the 2025 season. Rahane captained the franchise, and the defending champions finished a dreadful season in eighth place with only 5 wins.
Despite such a poor performance, the new KKR coaching staff led by Abhishek Nair backed Rahane for the captaincy this season as well. However, Rahane has continued his losing streak in the IPL.
As KKR captain, Rahane has lost a record 56% of the games, as he has lost 9 out of 16 matches, while managing to win only 5.
Should Rachin Ravindra be selected in KKR XI?
Apart from the change in captaincy, another big controversy in the KKR camp is related to their highly invested cricketer Cameron Green, who was bought by KKR for Rs 25.20 crore. The all-rounder has performed as a specialist batsman in the two matches and has also failed to make significant contributions with the bat.
Having scored only 20 runs with the bat and not bowled a single over, many have suggested that he should be benched until he starts bowling. Instead, KKR can opt for Rachin Ravindra, who is an ideal all-rounder and can help solve KKR’s spin bowling problems in the middle stage.
Ravindra was the leading wicket-taker for New Zealand in the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup in India and has also proved himself to be effective as a top-order batsman.
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