Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have named Rinku Singh as their vice-captain for IPL 2026. The announcement was made by KKR’s CEO and managing director Venky Mysore during a pre-season event on Tuesday.
Rinku takes over from Venkatesh Iyer, who was let go by the team ahead of this year’s auction. Rinku has never captained a T20 side but has represented KKR since his IPL debut in 2018. He is a key cog in the side as a middle-order batter and a finisher, roles he will take over more prominently in the absence of Andre Russell, who retired from the IPL and took over as KKR’s power coach last year.
“I think it’s quite befitting because my first memory of coming to KKR and being part of the support staff was working with Rinku Singh,” KKR’s head coach Abhishek Nayar said during the event. “Over the years, we’ve seen Rinku Singh evolve not only as a cricketer but also as a leader. For the past couple of years, while his performances have spoken for themselves, I think off the field without saying a lot, he is someone that the team looks forward to [hearing].
“We wanted to, with the big power-hitter [Russell] gone, we wanted a little more responsibility for Rinku to shoulder and I feel it’s the perfect time after being a World Cup champion to come in and take the responsibility and help Ajinkya Rahane take the reins over.”
Rinku has played 59 games for KKR and scored 1099 runs at a strike rate of 145.17 and was most recently the part of the India squad that lifted the T20 World Cup at home.