Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has urged Kolkata Knight Riders to find a new captain for the next season of the Indian Premier League. Ajinkya Rahane could not lead KKR from the front and the franchise hasn’t been able to qualify for the playoffs in the last two seasons under his leadership.

Rahane scored 335 runs in 14 matches at an average of 25.77 and a strike rate of 135.08 in IPL 2026. Sehwag highlighted that the trio of Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and Manish Pandey are known to play at a lower strike rate, and KKR can not afford to play all of them together.

Meanwhile, Rahane top-scored in the league stage’s final against Delhi Capitals, scoring 63 runs off 39 balls, but it went in vain.

“Next year, they should find another captain, in my opinion, or look for a better team combination. Because now you have some players who don’t have a high strike rate, like Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and Manish Pandey. So, it is difficult to play all three of them together. So, either find a new captain, and let Rahane feature as a player, and take the pressure away from him, or tell him, ‘Thank you very much, this is the end’,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

Rahane, on the other hand, was proud of his players despite them not qualifying for the last four. KKR lost their five of their first six matches (with one ending in a no-result) but made a good comeback in the second phase of the tournament.

“Just want to say the kind of season we had, really proud of each and everyone. The situation we were in, from there, kept the league alive. I’m proud of each and every individual. They put that effort going out there. We didn’t qualify, which is disappointing,” Ajinkya Rahane said during the post-match presentation.

KKR would aim to bounce back strongly in the next season.