The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024-winning captain Shreyas Iyer will lead Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the next season. Iyer who has 3,127 runs from 116 IPL games featuring 21 half-centuries wants to bat at no.3 and play the anchor role for PBKS. After the official announcement as captain, Iyer said that he wants to get back to what he did at Delhi Capitals (DC) when Ricky Ponting was at the helm of things. Iyer revealed that he has already had a discussion with Ponting regarding his batting position at the top of the order.
"I want to be that anchor in the team who usually plays at No. 3, who can bat, once set, until the 15-16th over and end on a good note. That's how I started playing my cricket in the past, when I was representing DC. Also, when we were brainstorming with Ricky, this was the position [we spoke about] for me to be in," the 30-year-old told ESPNCricinfo.
However, Iyer also said that he is flexible with his batting position. In the previous edition, he scored 351 runs from 14 innings at an average of 39 including two half-centuries. His strike rate was 146.86. Iyer said that contrary to criticism of his batting at KKR, his performances benefitted the team.
"I feel that I'm flexible. I can bat at any position, as I did in KKR, but still some people think that my numbers weren't that great. But if you go and see the numbers and the positions at which I batted, the strike rate and also the average and combined all that, it benefited the team in every possible way. It's just that perception people create from the outside, that this particular batsman should be batting at this [position in the] order. I am not that kind of a thinker. I love to be flexible. I can bat at any [position]. If my team demands I bat at a certain position, I would do that," he added.
Iyer flexible on his batitng position in Champions Trophy
While Iyer is a hot property as a captain in the IPL, he has not played international cricket since August 2024. He hopes that he finds himself in the squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025 which is yet to be announced.
"I'm flexible and ready to bat anywhere in the batting order... It will be a proud moment for me if I were to be picked in the Champions Trophy [side] to represent the country," the Mumbai batter said.