‘Mithai bantwa dijiye khushi ka mahol hai’ – Fans praise Kolkata as they appoint Nitish Rana as skipper in absence of Shreyas Iyer

Ahead of the Indian T20 League 2023, Nitish Rana has been appointed as captain of Kolkata in the absence of Shreyas Iyer. The latter has been ruled out for half of the tournament due to a back injury. Iyer’s back injury resurfaced in the fourth Test against Australia. The first time he suffered the injury was in January this year ahead of the ODI series against New Zealand.

At the time, he was ruled out of the white-ball series against the Blackcaps and started his recovery process. As it turned out, the right-hander was rushed into a comeback in the BGT series. Meanwhile, Mumbaikar’s injury is so bad that he won’t be able to play the first half of the tournament as of now. However, it will be interesting to see whether he plays in the tournament or not. At this point, Iyer has opted out of going for a surgery

We feel fortunate that Nitish Rana will lead the side: Kolkata’s official statement

The two-time champions mentioned that Rana has captaincy experience with his domestic side, i.e Delhi. They added that they hope for a speedy recovery of their regular skipper, Shreyas.

“Kolkata today announced that Nitish Rana would captain the side in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who is recovering from a back injury. 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.

“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,” the franchise said in their official statement.

Official statement. @NitishRana_27 #AmiKKR #KKR #Nitish #NitishRana pic.twitter.com/SeGP5tBoql

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 27, 2023

This is how Twitter reacted

Nitish Rana is @KKRiders captain.
A fantastic elevation after being dropped from state team during red ball season.#IPL2023

— Kushan Sarkar (@kushansarkar) March 27, 2023

https://twitter.com/Bojackchan_/status/1640319425445527552?s=20

Nitish Rana pic.twitter.com/2Gsk5M9c1C

— RVCJ Media (@RVCJ_FB) March 27, 2023

https://twitter.com/KkrKaravan/status/1640326591023845376?s=20

https://twitter.com/KnightOfEden_/status/1640327790468952064?s=20

https://twitter.com/ashishayush1177/status/1640319020145725440?s=20

https://twitter.com/khushbookadri/status/1640322694272155649?s=20

https://twitter.com/ABXD_DC/status/1640325198355521538?s=20

https://twitter.com/Arif01111111/status/1640328164667977729?s=20

https://twitter.com/sri_ashutosh08/status/1640325650484695041?s=20