'We were the first ones to bid for him' - KKR CEO Venky Mysore recalls bidding for Shreyas Iyer in IPL 2015 auction

Kolkata Knight Riders purchased Shreyas Iyer for a whopping bid of INR 12.25 CR at the mega auction of the IPL 2022. Iyer was eventually named the captain of the side and went on to lead his team to a comfortable victory against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the inaugural match of this season.

His leadership skills are not something to be doubted, as he led his previous team- Delhi Capitals- to the playoffs twice after being named the captain. He was looking for the captaincy role with a team, and hence, was released by the Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the auction this year. He had to miss the first leg of the IPL 2021 owing to his injury, and the captaincy was handed over to Rishabh Pant.

KKR CEO Venky Mysore, while speaking to Boria Majumdar for Revsportz, shared his thoughts on how the team had been eyeing getting Shreyas Iyer since 2015. “Shreyas is someone that we had tracked for a long time. You might recall that when he first came into the auction in 2015, actually it was a mini-auction, we were the first ones to bid for him.

“Of course, Delhi gave us a very strong fight and we went as far as we could at that time. So we’ve been very impressed with him and we’ve always wanted him,” he said during the conversation.

It's RCB vs KKR today in the TATA IPL 2022. Watch KKR CEO Venky Mysore talk about their skipper Shreyas Iyer.@VenkyMysore @ShreyasIyer15 @KKRiders @RCBTweets @IPL @ThumsUpOfficial #RCBvKKR #KKR #KKRHaiTaiyaar #RCB #TATAIPL #IPL2022 #thumsupstrong #Toofan #ThumsUp pic.twitter.com/b7FFxl8yLe

— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) March 30, 2022

Venky praised Shreyas Iyer for his leadership qualities and his self-confidence

“When a player is taken by a franchise and they retained him so the question of even attempting to bid for him didn’t arise although cheekily I had broached the idea of trade at one point but it got shut down very quickly. But the fact that he came into the auction gave us the opportunity and we were ready with a plan and we were very fortunate and the whole table erupted at the moment we got him,” he added while explaining the reason behind bidding for Shreyas Iyer.

Mysore also praised the KKR skipper saying that he’s an ‘awesome’ guy and that the young player has great potential as the leader of the pack, in addition to boasting about the self-confidence that Iyer holds at such a young age. KKR will play RCB in their next match, scheduled to take place on March 30, 2022, at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai.