Nitish Rana to captain Kolkata Knight Riders in Shreyas Iyer's absence

Iyer is recovering from a back injury but it is hoped that he will be available in the latter stages of the 2023 IPL

Nitish Rana has been appointed captain of Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2023 Indian Premier League.

The 29-year-old will serve as skipper while Shreyas Iyer continues his recovery from a back injury.

It is hoped that Iyer, who replaced Eoin Morgan as captain in 2022, will be back in action before the end of the campaign.

Rana has scored 1,744 runs in 74 matches since joining the Knight Riders in 2018 and was his side's second-highest run-scorer in 2022, scoring 361 runs, including two half-centuries, at a strike rate of 143.82.

^{Shreyas Iyer is recovering from a back injury [Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images]}

He has previously led his state side, Delhi, in 12 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy outings, winning eight and losing four.

In a statement, KKR wrote: "While we are hopeful that Shreyas will recover and participate in the IPL 2023 edition, we feel fortunate that Nitish, with the captaincy experience having led his state side in white-ball cricket and the IPL experience he has had with KKR 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 support that Nitish may need on the field."

Kolkata Knight Riders finished a disappointing seventh in 2022 after winning six matches from a possible 14. They lifted the title twice in three years between 2012 and 2014 but have only reached the final once (2021) since then.