MUMBAI: With Shreyas Iyer almost ruled out of the IPL due to a serious back injury, the Kolkata Knight Riders are set to name a new captain for IPL 2023 in the next couple of days.
TOI has learnt that the job could go to either India's pace bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur, or veteran West Indies' spin bowling all-rounder Sunil Narine, who has been a stellar performer for the franchise since he joined them in 2012.
"Within a day or two, KKR are set to make the announcement of their new captain in a grand function, with their owner, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and an overseas pop star set to light up the occasion," a source told TOI.
The new KKR captain will have to attend the IPL captains' meeting in Ahmedabad on March 30. KKR play their first match against Punjab Kings at Mohali on April 1.
According to sources, Thakur, who was traded by the Delhi Capitals for IPL 2023, they bought him for Rs 10.75 crore for IPL 2022, to the Knight Riders after a trade with the Delhi Capitals, has an edge over Narine as the Mumbaikar is expected to communicate better with the Indian players at KKR.
What could also work against Narine is his poor captaincy stint with the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders recently in the inaugural season of the ILT20 in the UAE, where the team logged just a single win and suffered eight defeats to finish at the bottom of the table in the six-team tournament.
