Former India batter Mohammad Kaif wants the three-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to groom Rinku Singh as the future captain, saying it can prove to be a long-term investment. In the upcoming IPL 2026 season, Ajinkya Rahane will be leading the franchise, and it remains to be seen how the team performs after last year’s disappointment, when it failed to make it to the playoffs.
KKR have been hit with multiple injuries. Harshit Rana and Akash Deep are all set to miss the entire IPL 2026 season, while Matheesha Pathirana will be joining the team late as he is yet to recover from his injury.
Kaif, who has observed Rinku from close quarters as the latter has been leading Uttar Pradesh for quite some time now, feels that the left-handed batter can take his game to the next level if he is able to lead KKR.
“KKR should groom Rinku Singh as a future captain. Rinku Singh is an all-format player. Although he is not part of the Test team, he can bat well in all formats. I come from UP, and I know what he does for UP. A lot of batters score runs, but his runs come in winning cause. So, that guy is ready and captains UP,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
“He has the mental strength to handle captaincy and batting together. They have a ready guy. Now it remains to be seen if they give him the captaincy after Rahane, do it mid-season, or make him the vice-captain. Just get him in the mix, it will be a long-term investment for KKR,” he added.
‘Captaincy experience’
Kaif also said that KKR made the decision to appoint Rahane as captain a bit too late, and it was driven by the experience he brings as a leader. The former Indian batter also claimed that Venkatesh Iyer was the captaincy choice at first, but in the end, the management decided to go with Rahane.
“Even that call was taken very late. Rahane was picked towards the end of the auction, which means he was not in the plans for captaincy. It felt like they were looking for a future captain when they spent INR 23-24 crore for Venkatesh Iyer. But they later went with Rahane because of his captaincy experience,” said Kaif.
The IPL 2026 season will begin on March 28 with the tournament opener between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad. KKR will begin their campaign on March 29 against the five-time champions, the Mumbai Indians.
