IPL 2022: Shreyas Iyer appointed KKR captain for the upcoming season

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have announced Shreyas Iyer as their captain for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Iyer had opted to go into the mega auction and he was one of the apt captaincy choice available in the event. Expectedly, a lot of teams went after him and the bidding war was finally won by the KKR who shelled a whopping amount of INR 12.25 crore to secure his services.

It was evident then that the franchise will be naming him as the skipper. Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy record is very good in the IPL as he led Delhi Capitals for more than two seasons. Having taken over from Gautam Gambhir mid-season, Iyer led the franchise to the playoffs in 2019 and 2020 editions of the IPL. Rather, in 2020, DC qualified for the final only to lose to Mumbai Indians (MI).

Meanwhile, KKR parted ways with Eoin Morgan who led them to final stunningly last season. Unfortunately, the England cricketer couldn’t score runs with the bat throughout the season and ended up going unsold in the auction.

Shreyas Iyer is KKR’s sixth captain

Shreyas Iyer is KKR’s sixth captain in the history of IPL. The likes of Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Brendon McCullum, Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan have been at the helm before. The franchise won the coveted IPL trophy twice in 2012 and 2014 under Gambhir’s inspired leadership. However, since then they were closest to win the trophy last season and would be looking to do wonders under their new skipper Shreyas Iyer.

As far as the auction is concerned, KKR made some smart buys picking players like Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana and Alex Hales among others. As for Iyer, he is currently part of India’s T20I squad for the three-match series against the West Indies. He will most probably be in action on Wednesday (February 16) as he is expected to make it to the playing XI at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.