Shreyas Iyer led the Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL 2024 title but was not retained by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Punjab Kings bought the player for a staggering amount of 26.75 crore, and he became the second-highest-costliest player ever in the history of the tournament.
Recently, the franchise appointed Iyer as the captain of the team for the upcoming season of the IPL. He will replace Sam Curran as the captain of the side. The Mumbaikar became the third cricketer to lead three IPL franchises after Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, and Steve Smith. He was first the captain of the Delhi Capitals, then became the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders and will now be leading the Punjab Kings.
Iyer was questioned about how much he will rate himself in T20 cricket. The cricketer replied, “I would always rate [myself] 10 because I don’t like to doubt myself at all.”
Iyer has not succeeded that much in the T20 format. He has played 51 T20Is and has scored 1104 runs at an average of 30.67 with a strike-rate of 136.13. Iyer has also featured in 115 IPL matches and has amassed 3127 runs at an average of 32.24 with a strike rate of 127.48.
“I was not expecting the amount”: Shreyas Iyer on getting picked by PBKS in IPL 2025 Auction
Shreyas Iyer (Image Credits: Twitter)
Iyer was questioned on whether he was expecting to be bought by any franchise for a whopping 26.75 crore. The Punjab Kings captain stated that he did not expect that figure but expected any amount close to that. He went on to say that when the bidding became intense, he covered his ears with cotton and went to the washroom.
“I was absolutely gobsmacked. I wasn’t expecting that amount, but I was expecting somewhere around that amount. So once [the bidding] crossed a certain point, I was covering my ears with cotton and I just didn’t want to stay in front of the TV. I went to the washroom. I was in Hyderabad at that point of time, playing Syed Mushtaq Ali (Iyer was Mumbai captain). Yeah, I was dumbstruck,” added Iyer.
Iyer will be looking to perform really well with the bat to force his entry back into the Indian T20I team ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 in India. Currently, he is out of the reckoning for a place in the Indian T20I side.
