Kolkata Knight Riders roped in Shreyas Iyer for a whopping Rs 12.25 crore in the recently concluded 2022 auction and on Wednesday, he got the captain job for knight's club. He was expected to be in huge demand in the mega auction and unsurprisingly, the 27-year-old youngster triggered a bidding war between Delhi Capitals and the Knight Riders before the latter had the last laugh in the auction proceedings.
Shreyas Iyer, who had missed the first part of Indian Premier League 2021 in India due to a shoulder injury, had to leave Delhi Capital’s leadership role and the team’s captaincy was handed over to Rishabh Pant, who led the side for the entire season even after he came back.
Shreyas Iyer will lead KKR in Indian Premier League 2022. (Source: KKR)Accepting captaincy of KKR, Shreyas Iyer said, “I am extremely excited to have gotten the opportunity to lead a prestigious team like KKR. The Indian Premier League as a tournament brings the best players from different countries and cultures and look forward to leading this great group of very talented individuals.”
I would like to thank the owners, management and support staff of KKR for giving me the opportunity to lead this team. I am confident that we will find the right synergies to achieve the team’s goals. Kolkata and The Eden Gardens have a very rich history when it comes to cricket and I look forward to contributing to this rich history and making our fans proud of us as a team India.
Head Coach Brendon expressed his excitement around the decision and said “India’s brightest future leaders in Shreyas Iyer, take the reins at KKR. I’ve enjoyed Shreyas Iyer's game and his captaincy is far. Now, I will look forward to working closely with him to drive forward the success and style of play we want at KKR.” Mysore, CEO & MD of KKR said, “We are delighted firstly to have been able to successfully bid for Shreyas Iyer in the Indian Premier League auction & to have the opportunity for him to lead Team KKR. He has impressed one & all as a quality batsman at the highest level. We are confident that he will excel as a leader of Team KKR.”
Kolkata Knight Riders squad
Batters: Shreyas Iyer, Singh, Abhijeet, Pratham Singh, Alex Hales (o). Wicket keepers: Sheldon Jackson, Sam Billings (o), Baba Indrajith. Spinners: Chakravarthy. Fast bowlers: Shivam Mavi, Ashok Sharma, Tim (o), Umesh. Spin-bowling all-rounders: Sunil (o), Rana, Roy, Mohammad (o). Fast-bowling all-rounders: Andre Russell (o), Venkatesh, Pat Cummins (o), Karunaratne (o), Ramesh Kumar, Khan.
Strong zone
There are a fair few things wrong about this Kolkata Knight Riders line-up, but they eventually managed to put together four overseas players that could form the core of their line-up in the 2022 season at least, if not going forward. Alex Hales is the perfect foil for Venkatesh at the top, sorting the lack of firepower they had last year in the top three. With Andre Russell, Sunil and Pat Cummins locked in as the other three overseas players, KKR has a nice blend of options. Karunaratne, while not the highest quality, is a budget replacement pick for Russell and Sam Billings can step in as wicket keeper. Mohammad covers for Sunil while Tim can step in when Pat Cummins is unavailable, a likely proposition at the start of the tournament given Australia's fixtures.
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