Costliest Shreyas made IPL's KKR captain
Thursday, 17 February 2022
NEW DELHI, Feb 16 (AFP): India's Shreyas Iyer has been appointed captain of Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the franchise said Wednesday, succeeding Eoin Morgan who went unsold at the tournament's recent auction.
Iyer was the costliest player bought by Kolkata, owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, selling for $1.62 million in the auction last weekend ahead of season 15 of the lucrative Twenty20 tournament.
"We are delighted firstly to have been able to successfully bid for Shreyas in the IPL auction and to have the opportunity for him to lead #TeamKKR," Venky Mysore, chief executive of Kolkata, said in a statement.
"He has impressed one and all as a quality batsman at the highest level and we are confident that he will excel as a leader of #TeamKKR."
The two-time champions released Morgan after last year's edition of the tournament despite the England white-ball captain leading the team to a runners-up finish in Dubai.
The 27-year-old Iyer, who recently hit a match-winning 80 in India's 3-0 ODI whitewash of the West Indies, led IPL side Delhi Capitals to their first final in the 2020 season, which was won by Mumbai Indians.