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3 Reasons Why KKR Will Pick KL Rahul Over Jos Buttler For Captaincy In IPL 2025 Mega Auction

Ritam

KL Rahul (L) & Jos Buttler (Source: @IPL/X)KL Rahul (L) & Jos Buttler (Source: @IPL/X)

If you look at Kolkata Knight Riders' retention list ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction, you will see most of their bases have already been covered. With Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, and Ramandeep Singh, they boast of having the most destructive finishing trio in the competition, and adding to that, keeping the twin pair of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, along with the uncapped Harshit Rana, will allow them to cover 60 to 70% of 20 overs in an innings.

Then where do KKR lack? Of course, a leader who can be influential at the top. They did have Shreyas Iyer in a successful IPL 2024, but due to mutual disagreements over certain factors, he is no longer with the franchise.

There have been quite a few options to replace Shreyas, and considering the fact that KKR have two successful leaders, who received over INR 10 crore each in the past, there is a good chance that there will be a new man in town as a captain who will fetch big money. Potential candidates? Jos Buttler and KL Rahul.

Even though names come for bidding wars very randomly in every particular set, there is a good chance KKR will keep a good amount of purse to sign KL Rahul rather than Buttler. Why? We will discuss the topic here.

KL Rahul's Present Profile Is Very Similar To Shreyas Iyer's Before IPL 2024

First things first. Shreyas was going through a very rough phase when KKR signed him. He was thrown out of the BCCI's central contract chart after deciding not to play a Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai. He is still facing the heat, for that matter.

Rahul, on the other hand, was projected as one of India's potential poster boys in the next 10 years or so. However, nothing is going his way at this moment, and that's where KKR finds an identical profile like Shreyas in Rahul.

KKR's Past Record From Overseas High-Profile Captains

If you look back at the history, KKR had two solid faces—Brendon McCullum and Eoin Morgan—as their captains among other names. Even though both of them were quite successful for the country and in other franchise cricket, they failed to deliver the prestigious trophy.

In fact, they had to wait ten long years to turn their number of titles to two to three, and it is another Indian after Gautam Gambhir’s twice triumph in three years who made it happen. Surely, the KKR think-tank will not make the same mistake again.

Rahul's Impressive T20 Numbers At Eden Gardens

Despite the dip in form, Rahul remains one of the most productive T20 batters around the globe, averaging 41.91 at a strike rate of 135.85 and making 7586 runs in 226 matches. His numbers at Eden Gardens are equally good, scoring 195 runs in five outings, including two half-centuries.

Hence, Rahul's addition as an opener and as a captain means KKR can also choose two overseas regulars, one potentially as a leader of the pace bowling attack, similar to how Mitchell Starc was last time, and the other who can bat within the first four positions.