Coming from an injury halt, Shreyas Iyer made a resounding comeback in the International cricket and its biggest testimony is his latest willow blitz in the T20 series against Sri Lanka. For his splendid batting, Shreyas was awarded Man of the Series as he remained unbeaten in all the three T20 matches with scores of 57, 74 and 73 in the first, second and third match respectively.
Shreyas has certainly seen a lot in the time that went by. But now, it's time to reap the harvest for Shreyas for all the hardwork done all this while. The 27-year-old was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a whopping Rs 12.25 crore and was also appointed as its skipper to lead the pack in the upcoming edition of IPL.
Coming from a topsy-turvy experience, once injury-ravaged Iyer finally opened up on losing Delhi Capitals' captaincy.
When asked which was the bigger low for him - the injury or losing his captaincy - Shreyas, in conversation with the Times Of India, said, “Injury. That was a bigger low. If that didn't happen they wouldn't have stepped me down as a captain. At Delhi Capitals, you saw the reflection of the environment at the start of 2021, which we created in 2019 & 20. The atmosphere was amazing. The players knew each other inside out, their strengths and weaknesses. I don't want to get deeper into it.”
The star batter had spearheaded Delhi Capitals to their first IPL playoffs in 2019 after seven seasons where they had finished third in the group before beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator, and eventually lost to Chennai Super Kings in the second Qualifier.
However, he was ruled out of the first half of the subsequent season owing to a shoulder injury that he incurred during the ODI series at home against England. Iyer Shreyas had dislocated his shoulder and had later undergone a surgery in the UK.
As Shreyas replacement, Rishabh Pant was named as the captain for the first half of the season and was retained for the position even when the former had returned for the second half of IPL 2021 in the UAE.
Iyer was released by the Delhi franchise, who had retained Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw and Anrich Nortje ahead of the mega auction.
“I was in a good frame of mind and then that injury began playing on my mind. Forced breaks are never easy because you have to start all over again. Injuries and rehabs are painful. But I must say, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The injury had made me feel I was 50% of the player I otherwise am. Having fully recovered, I've come back fresh and feel good. So, whatever happens, happens for good.”
Kolkata Knight Riders's squad: Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, B Indrajith, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan.
Kolkata Knight Riders' picks in IPL mega auction 2022:
Pat Cummins – Rs 7.25 Crore
Shreyas Iyer – Rs 12.25 Crore
Nitish Rana – Rs 8 Crore
Shivam Mavi – Rs 7.25 Crore
Sheldon Jackson – Rs 60 Lakhs
Ajinkya Rahane- Rs 1 crore
Rinku Singh- Rs 55 lakh
Anukul Roy- Rs 20 lakh
Chamika Karunaratne- Rs 50 lakh
Abhijeet Tomar- Rs 40 lakh
Pratham Singh- Rs 20 lakh
Ashok Sharma- Rs 55 lakh
Baba Indrajith- Rs 20 lakh
Rasikh Dar- Rs 20 lakh
Sam Billings- Rs 2 crore
Alex Hales- Rs 1.5 crore
Tim Southee- Rs 1.50 crore
Ramesh Kumar- Rs 20 lakh
Umesh Yadav- Rs 2 crore
Mohammad Nabi- Rs 1 crore
Aman Khan- Rs 20 lakh
