Shreyas Iyer spoke openly about his decision not to stay with Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the IPL 2025 season. Shreyas Iyer was bought by Punjab Kings for a record Rs 26.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction. Shreyas will captain Punjab Kings in the upcoming season. Shreyas Iyer became the first IPL captain to be released after winning the title.
Shreyas Iyer reveals the reason for parting ways with Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of IPL 2025. Defending champions KKR completed their quota of retaining six players, but did not pick the captain who won the title
Three-time champions KKR retained Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakraborty. Apart from this, uncapped Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh were also selected. Shreyas Iyer expressed disappointment at not staying in KKR and claimed that there was no strong conversation from the franchise to retain him.
What did Shreyas Iyer say
Shreyas Iyer said in a conversation with the Indian Express, “My time with KKR was great, where we won the title. The fan following is great. The atmosphere in the stadium is great and I enjoyed every moment spent there. We had a conversation after the IPL. But the conversation got stuck in a few months and there was no strong conversation about retention. I was surprised by what was happening. So due to lack of adequate conversation, we came to this situation of separation. This is the summary of the whole thing. ”
Punjab will have to win the title
Let us tell you that Shreyas Iyer will captain Punjab Kings in IPL 2025. As soon as he takes charge in the 18th season of IPL, he will become the 17th captain of Punjab Kings. Shreyas Iyer will become the first Indian player to captain three different franchises. Earlier, he captained Delhi Capitals (2018-2020) and Kolkata Knight Riders (2022-24). He could not play the 2023 season due to injury.
Unique record attached to Shreyas’ name
Let us tell you that Shreyas Iyer has a unique record to his name. He is the only captain in IPL history to lead two different teams in the IPL finals. Apart from this, Shreyas Iyer is the first IPL winning captain to be released by the franchise after winning the title. KKR has not yet announced the name of its new captain.