India cricket team star batter Shreyas Iyer will go under the hammer in IPL auction after being released by Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite leading KKR to their third title in IPL 2024, the middle-order batter wasn’t a part of the retained players. He is now looking for a new home and there are many teams who will be interested to rope in the batter-cum-captain. But teams must be careful while bidding for Shreyas Iyer. In simple terms, he is not worth being paid more than Rs 10 crore.
Teams shouldn’t pay Shreyas Iyer more than Rs 10 cr in IPL auction
KKR picked up Shreyas Iyer in the IPL 2022 auction for Rs 12.75 crore. While he missed IPL 2023 due to injury, he was a part of the side that lifted the trophy in 2024. His best season for the team came in 2022 when he amassed 401 runs in the edition. In 2024, he finished with 351 runs to his name. Since making his debut in 2015, Shreyas Iyer has been consistent with the bat, barring 2016 and 2021 when he did not feature in all games for a franchise.
Despite possessing some amazing numbers in IPL, Shreyas Iyer is simply not a good fit for T20s. He was left out of India’s T20 World Cup squad earlier this year. His strike rate in IPL is 127.48 – a figure that is sub-par for a batter who plays in the middle-order. He averages 32.84 in the tournament and has 21 fifties to his name.
| Year | Mat | Runs | Avg | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career | 115 | 3127 | 32.24 | 127.48 |
| 2024 | 14 | 351 | 39.00 | 146.86 |
| 2022 | 14 | 401 | 30.85 | 134.56 |
| 2021 | 8 | 175 | 35.00 | 102.33 |
| 2020 | 17 | 519 | 34.60 | 123.27 |
| 2019 | 16 | 463 | 30.86 | 119.94 |
| 2018 | 14 | 411 | 37.36 | 132.58 |
| 2017 | 12 | 338 | 33.80 | 139.09 |
| 2016 | 6 | 30 | 5.00 | 69.76 |
| 2015 | 14 | 439 | 33.76 | 128.36 |
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Shreyas Iyer’s role as captain for KKR in IPL 2024 is questionable and he hasn’t recieved any appreciation for his captaincy. On the contrary, the team lifted their third IPL trophy due to contributions coming from all quarters of the team. Make no mistake, Iyer is no stranger to captaincy. He has led DC in the past, will captain Mumbai in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and has also led a side in the Duleep Trophy.
While teams will be on the hunt for Shreyas Iyer at the IPL auction, the should be mindful about how much they would want to pay to accquire the services of the batter. Going by his track record in the shortest format of the game, it makes very little sense to pay anything more than Rs 10 crore for Iyer. The IPL franchises have more options to break their banks for and Shreyas Iyer isn’t certainly one of them. Besides, teams have other captain-cum-batters like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul whom they can splurge their money on.
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