Has Shreyas Iyer been retained by KKR ahead of IPL 2025 Auction?
The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have not retained their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Instead, the franchise have retained Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakarvarthy, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh as revealed ahead of the deadline on Thursday (October 31).
This ends weeks of speculation around Shreyas's future with the franchise. Although official details will emerge later, according to The Times of India, KKR and Shreyas had their first conversation only last weekend (October 26-27).
Given it was just four days before the deadline, by then, Shreyas was linked with multiple franchises. KKR were also said to not see him as a first-choice retention (for a minimum salary cap of ₹18 crore), an apparent deal-breaker.
Shreyas joined KKR in 2022 for a big sum of ₹12.25 crore, the last mega auction. At the time, he had left the Delhi Capitals (DC) after seeing them choose Rishabh Pant as the captain over him. This happened even though Pant was initially an interim leader for the first half of the 2021 season when Shreyas was injured.
Shreyas' leadership qualities were appreciated at KKR but more injuries didn't let him show that for the first two years. In 2024, though, he was brilliant on the field -- doing the basics right and leading from the front in the team's high-intent identity.
One issue that might have occurred to the team would be that Shreyas' primary skill, middle-order batting, wasn't best suited to T20s. Although a brilliant ODI and Test batter, the Mumbaikar has a career strike rate of 127.48 in the IPL.
Although he struck at 146.86 last season, his eagerness to bat in the death overs after good batting starts blocked KKR's specialist finisher, Rinku's game time.
Which franchises can go after Shreyas Iyer in IPL 2025 auction?
Despite his batting inefficiencies, Shreyas would likely be in big demand at the IPL 2025 auction, especially because even in 2024 he was the most experienced captain in the tournament. Franchises like the Punjab Kings, the Lucknow Super Giants and perhaps even his old team DC might be interested in signing him.