If Rahane, despite his lack of runs and strike rate, can captain the team, why is Manish Pandey not an option?

In the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) campaign seems to be a sports-movie trope: an underdog team rises to win the tournament. The team began with five defeats and one game without a result, but suddenly, they are still in the race for the playoffs. To be honest, it is difficult to judge KKR’s campaign, but what is even more difficult is judging Ajinkya Rahane as captain, who is definitely not the fan favourite.

In fact, in the past few weeks, people have started questioning that if Rahane, without runs and an impactful strike rate coupled with his age, can captain the team, why can’t Manish Pandey do the same?

Manish Pandey as KKR’s captain

At KKR, Manish Pandey peaked in his debut season in 2014, the year KKR lifted its second IPL trophy. However, in the following three seasons, his best was 396 runs in 2017, whereas in 2015 and 2016, he remained below 300.

An interesting love triangle between MI, KKR, and Manish Pandey 😄 pic.twitter.com/wtPADRZNvb

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 21, 2026

This phase was also the period when KKR was under Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy, so Pandey was never in contention for the captain’s armband. In 2018, Pandey left and returned to the team in 2024, another phase when Shreyas Iyer was the team’s star leader, guiding the team to KKR’s third title.

2024 and 2025 also witnessed Pandey having limited opportunities with the bat, courtesy of other well-set batters in the team, coupled with Pandey’s own inconsistency. Even this season, Pandey has played multiple games but has batted only once, against the Mumbai Indians, scoring a crucial 45 runs in 33 balls.

Manish Pandey - a Bumrah match-up specialist? 🤯 pic.twitter.com/SReYNNWyPE

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) May 20, 2026

Now, the question stands: if Rahane can be the team’s captain with limited impact with the bat, why can’t Pandey be considered for the captaincy?

Why Pandey?

The man of all seasons 💜
The man of many brilliant catches 🫴

🎥 Hear from Manish Pandey on what it takes to be such a fantastic fielder 🫡

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/Aw11jLoww5#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #KKRvMI | @im_manishpandey | @KKRiders pic.twitter.com/JfRDIiBry8

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 20, 2026

Pandey may not have captained an IPL team, but he was successful with others. For example, he led India A in the quadrangular series in Australia in 2016, achieved a tri-series win in South Africa with India A, and captained Karnataka to victories in the SMAT and the Vijay Hazare Trophy. In fact, in 2019, under his captaincy, Karnataka had won 16 consecutive T20 matches.

Similar T20 stats

A clutch innings (45 Runs) from Manish Pandey under pressure.🔥#ManishPandey #KKRvsMI #CricketMatlabCREX pic.twitter.com/sVqFdgVTTz

— CREX (@Crex_live) May 20, 2026

Both players have similar sorts of statistics in domestic T20 across tournaments. With nearly 310 matches under their belt, both players have close to 8,000 runs, a strike rate of around 125, and an average of approximately 30.

With such similar sorts of statistics but Pandey’s better T20 captaincy record, if KKR doesn’t find a better alternative, why not show faith in Pandey? Unfortunately, Pandey may never get a chance to captain the team for an entire season, especially if KKR reaches the playoffs. Rahane is expected to get another season if the team makes the playoffs, even though player changes have helped the team fight for them.

Irrespective of who leads the team next season, KKR fans will forever ponder, ‘What if Pandey was the captain?’