The future of the middle-order batter of India, Shreyas Iyer, is up in the air after the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) released him from the retention list before the mega auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The batter selected to enter the auction to have a rise in the payment instead of accepting the offer in retention.
The captain of the KKR side in the 2024 season of the IPL, Shreyas Iyer, led the ‘Purple team’ to their third title in the league, the first since the 2014 season of the competition. In the group stage of the event, the team won nine of their games in 14 clashes at a net run rate of +1.428, besides remaining unbeaten in the playoffs of the event.
When it comes to his performances with the bat in hand, the right-hander smashed 3127 runs in 115 innings at an average of over 32 and a strike rate of more than 125, shouldering on 21 half-centuries at a best score of unbeaten 58 runs.
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In case of being part of the Delhi franchise for seven years starting from 2015, Shreyas Iyer managed 2375 runs in 87 innings at an average of over 31 and a strike rate of more than 120, with the help of 16 half-centuries at a best score of 96.
Shreyas Iyer to make his return for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025
Once there was a change in the ownership of the Delhi Capitals from the 2025 season of the tournament, they decided to go away from their captain, Rishabh Pant, who wanted to extend his position besides having his thoughts on the squad and team selection and deciding the management.
They have the third-highest auction purse, which means that they can spend big on Shreyas Iyer if needed. The batter has been one of the vital members of the franchise, but as the KKR CEO, Venky Mysore, revealed there was the importance of a mutual relationship between the individual player and the franchise.
That mutual agreement didn’t take place, and the batter decided to test the value of his auction, this is something that has happened with Pant to some extent.
“There won’t be too many teams that would want Iyer the T20 batter, but just to ensure DC spends a bomb on a player, they might engage in a bidding war for Iyer.” An IPL franchise official expressed during an interaction with PTI.
Shreyas Iyer had a very tough time in the last few years, as he was denied the Central Contract by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) due to him not putting much attention towards the Ranji Trophy. He was part of the ODI World Cup 2023 at home, where he smashed 530 runs in 11 innings at an average of over 66 and a strike rate of more than 90 with the help of three half-centuries and two centuries at a best score of unbeaten 128 runs.
Kolkata decided to go to Andre Russell, one of their veteran premier all-rounders of West Indies, along with Sunil Narine, besides keeping Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh as uncapped players and Rinku Singh.
Shreyas Iyer was part of the Capitals in the leadership group for a long time, and having taken them to the finals in 2020, he knows the place well. But he is expected to be under the radar of most of the other franchises in the future.