New Delhi: The IPL 2025 mega auction is around the corner and this will be the first time that the two-day event will be hosted outside India. On Sunday and Monday (November 24 and 25), the auction will be staged at the Abady Al-Johar Arena in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last week announced the shortlisting of 574 players, including 364 Indian players. One of the most demanding players from India will be former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Shreyas Iyer.
Iyer has played 115 matches across nine seasons with 3127 runs under his belt at a strike rate of 127.48 with the help of 21 fifty-plus scores. The Mumbai-born player has captained in 70 matches for KKR and DC between 2018 and 2024, registering 38 wins and 29 losses to his record. He led KKR to their third IPL title in April this year, which was an upheaval moment for his captaincy journey.
Iyer was sold to KKR for a huge price of INR 12.25 crore in the previous mega auction in 2022. Despite winning the title, the 29-year-old was released by the franchise as they retained Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh. This means that the three-time IPL winners won’t have the option of using the Right-to-match card for the top order batter in the auction, but that won’t stop them from bidding for the player.
KKR CEO Venky Mysore, in an interaction with RevSportz, revealed that they had shortlisted Iyer as their top retention but it was the player who wished to test his own market value by moving into the auction.
On the eve of the mega auction, Iyer slammed an unbeaten 130 for Mumbai in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy opening match against Goa in Hyderabad. He will inspire an intense bidding war in the auction for his services given that he will be one of the marquee players to go under the hammer on the first day. Here we take a look at few teams who can target Iyer in their squads.
1. Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings will enter the mega auction with the most sorted purse of INR 110.5 crore after the franchise retained just two uncapped players in Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh. With PBKS having a new coach in Ricky Ponting, a new era is set to embark with the mission to end their IPL title drought. It was under Ponting’s coaching at Delhi Capitals in 2018, when Iyer started his journey of IPL captaincy. The two could be reunited if Punjab opts to break bank for the star batter.
2. Royal Challengers Bengaluru
RCB is also one team which is looking for a potential captaincy successor to Faf du Plessis, having let the latter go due to his age (40). A to-be 30-year-old Iyer can be their long-term plan given that star batter Virat Kohli might not be a pick for the next cycle. RCB has a purse value of INR 83 crore and they can go full-throttle while bidding for the Mumbai gun.
3. Delhi Capitals
There can be a possibility of Iyer returning back to Delhi Capitals after he was released ahead of the 2022 mega auction. Now that the franchise has released Pant from their squad, the path for Iyer should be nothing but destiny. The 29-year-old can once again take over the captaincy reigns under the watch of new head coach Hemang Badani and Director of Cricket Venugopal Rao. He can also complete the unfinished business of leading the Capitals to IPL trophy after they finished runners-up in the 2020 season to Mumbai Indians in UAE.
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Shreyas Iyer is a title-winning captain and is likely to break the record for most expensive buy in the IPL 2025 mega auction. Which are the franchises that can target the 29-year-old? Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
