Former India batter Aakash Chopra feels Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)’s decision to appoint Ajinkya Rahane as captain for IPL 2025 was an “afterthought”. After months of speculation, Rahane was named captain by KKR as a replacement of Shreyas Iyer, who was released by the franchise despite leading them to the title last year. Apparently, Venkatesh Iyer, who was bought by KKR for Rs 23.75 crore, was one of the candidates to lead the team, but Rahane got the nod owing to his experience of leading an IPL team previously.

However, former KKR batter Chopra while highlighting Rahane’s price tag (Rs 1.5 crore) suggested that the team had no initial plans to appoint him as captain.

“Ajinkya Rahane has captained in 25 games to date. So it’s not that he is a newbie. He recently took his team to a win in the SMAT (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) and has been Mumbai and India’s captain. He has lifted the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He has a lot of experience but just think about the things that he needs to prove,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“We were seeing how expensive each captain was sold. No other captain was sold for single digits. They were mostly retained, and those who weren’t were sold very expensive. However, he was bought for INR 1.50 crore in the end. It seemed like it was an afterthought to give the captaincy to Ajju,” he added.

Chopra explained leading a winning team will be a challenge for Rahane, calling it a tougher job than winning the IPL for the first time.

“The biggest challenge for Ajju is that it’s a winning team. Where further will you take a winning team? However, the expectation will be that they should win this time as they won last time, or should reach the final at least. That’s never easy because retaining the crown is far tougher than winning it for the first time. So that will be a massive question,” Chopra explained.

KKR kicked off their title defense on Saturday against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at home.

(With IANS Inputs)