Ajinkya Rahane has left the captaincy of Kolkata Knight Riders. The news of Rahane leaving the captaincy after the poor performance of the Kolkata team in IPL 2026 has created a stir. In fact, KKR has proved to be the worst team of IPL 2026 so far. Kolkata is the only team which has not opened its winning account yet.

Under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane, Kolkata remained eighth in the table last season also. At the same time, it is present at the bottom of the points table of IPL 2026. Due to this poor performance, the news of Rahane leaving the captaincy has come to light. But let us know how much truth is there in these claims.

Has KKR captain changed?

This news is being widely shared on social media that Ajinkya Rahane has left the captaincy of KKR in the middle of the season. But these claims are absolutely wrong, because no such statement has been issued by IPL. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders have also not said anything on changing their captain in IPL 2026.

The news being spread on social media is completely fake. Ajinkya Rahane is still the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders team and Rinku Singh is still the vice-captain of the team.

BREAKING NEWS

Ajinkya Rahane steps down as captain of KKR after a disaster campaign till now.

New captain to be announced soon.

Source-TrustMeBroNews pic.twitter.com/1hGJ4Disvd

— Aman.pb (@Aman06072302) April 16, 2026

Bad condition of KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders is the champion of the 2024 season. But the very next year, the performance level of the KKR team dropped drastically. In IPL 2025, Kolkata team could register only 5 wins in 14 matches. Captain Ajinkya Rahane was heavily criticized for this. Despite this, KKR management again showed confidence in Rahane for IPL 2026. So far that confidence has been proved wrong, as Kolkata has not registered a single win in 5 matches so far in the 2026 season.

Also read;

What punishment does a cricketer get if he fails in a dope test? NADA’s eye on Abhishek Sharma and Akshar Patel

Kolkata Knight Riders has appointed Rinku Singh as the vice-captain in IPL 2026, which was announced during an event. The franchise has clarified that Ajinkya Rahane will remain the captain of KKR. Rinku was recently appointed to the post of Regional Sports Officer by the Uttar Pradesh government, although the cricketer did not come to collect the appointment letter due to being busy in IPL.

Rinku Singh made his IPL debut for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018, since then he has been playing for the same franchise and has now become an important member. Giving the vice-captaincy of KKR to Rinku Singh is an indication that in future the franchise can also hand over the command of the team to him.

If we look at the IPL salary graph of Rinku Singh, there has been a lot of increase in it. In 2018, he was sold for Rs 80 lakh, since then he remained at this price till 2021. Rinku Singh made headlines by hitting 5 sixes in a single over of Yash Dayal, after which his value also increased but his salary decreased. His IPL price dropped to Rs 55 lakh in 2022-2024, but in the last edition, KKR had retained him for Rs 13 crore. He is playing at the same price in IPL 2026 also.

Rinku Singh IPL record

28-year-old Rinku Singh made his debut in international cricket on the basis of his performance in the IPL and was a part of the T20 World Cup winning team. Talking about IPL, Rinku scored 1099 runs in 51 innings in 59 matches played for KKR, which included 4 half-centuries. He plays the role of a finisher.

KKR’s first match is on Sunday

IPL 2026 is starting from March 28. On Sunday, March 29, the second match of the league will be played between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede. This match will start at 7:30 pm.