Shreyas Iyer was released by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction despite him winning the IPL 2024 for the team. This was the third time that KKR won the IPL trophy. However, reports stated that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are interested in reacquiring Iyer’s services.
KKR retained key players like Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh. Notably, the defending champions have ₹51 crore left to build the rest of their squad.
There were reports as well, that Delhi Capitals (DC), now managed by GMR Capital, are very keen on bringing in Shreyas Iyer and making him captain of the franchise. For this, they even let go of the mercurial Rishabh Pant ahead of the IPL 2025 auction.
However, in their endeavor of bidding for Shreyas Iyer, who has a base price of INR 2 crores, DC might face competition from Punjab Kings, who are also looking for a new captain.
Kolkata Knight Riders sends feelers of interest in buying back Shreyas Iyer
However, according to Cricbuzz, the Kolkata Knight Riders are keen to repurchase Shreyas. Notably, the Kolkata-based squad cannot utilize the Right to Match (RTM) card to acquire Iyer at the auction because they had already used all six retentions, including two uncapped players, before the auction.
The highly anticipated IPL 2025 super auction, including many marquee players, will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24-25.
Shreyas signed with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022 for ₹12.5 crore. He was then designated captain of the team. The right-handed batter scored 401 runs in 14 games, with an average of 30.85 and a strike rate of 134.56, including three half-centuries. He missed the full 2023 season due to a back issue.
Iyer became the second captain after Gautam Gambhir to lead KKR to the title. Overall, Iyer has scored 3,127 runs in 115 IPL matches at a decent average of 32.24 and a strike rate of 127.48.
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