Shreyas Iyer continued in the IPL from where he left off in the Champions Trophy, being India's highest run-getter in the tournament. Iyer is oozing confidence at the moment and it reflected in his batting and tactics as a captain on his debut for the Punjab Kings. Iyer smashed his career-best 97* off just 42 balls and later made a couple of key decisions regarding impact player rule and bowling change that helped the Men in Red open their account in IPL 2025 with a win.
"Shreyas iyer the most improved batsman in last 1 yr .. ready for all formats . Great to see his improvement after a few issues on length @ShreyasIyer15 @bcci," Ganguly wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Iyer may not have played T20Is for India since November 2023, however, if his form in domestic T20 and in the IPL is anything to go by, the IPL and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy-winning captain shouldn't be far away from a T20 return as well.
The likes of Tilak Varma, Nitish Reddy and Rinku Singh have done well in the middle-order in T20Is for India with Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel being the all-rounders. Suryakumar Yadav is leading the Indian team at this point. Leaving anyone at this point is difficult and hence, Iyer will need to have a big 600-700-run season to slam the door down. The leadership quality is just additional.
Whether it was Kagiso Rabada, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj or Prasidh Krishna, Iyer didn't care about the bowler or the fields, he took them on and got the rewards. Him letting Shashank Singh play the whole final over knowing that he was just three runs away from his maiden IPL ton was just a great reminder of the actual selflessness from a captain.
They have started well but the Kings will be keen to continue the momentum as they build a new legacy for the franchise under the reunited duo of Iyer and coach Ricky Ponting.