KL Rahul vs Shreyas Iyer - IPL salary over the years

Shreyas Iyer was handed the second most expensive gig in IPL history after Punjab Kings shelled out INR 26.75 crore for the championship-winning captain. This was a more than double growth for Iyer in price tag since last season

Iyer missed the 2023 season. In 2022 and 2024 where led the Kolkata Knight Riders, Iyer was priced at INR 12.25 crore after he left the Delhi Capitals post 2021 edition. This was Iyer's best salary till then in the IPL

Before that in the four year cycle, Iyer was retained as the third player by the Delhi Daredevils in 2018 before rebranding as Capitals in 2019. Iyer was retained in the INR 7 crore bracket with Rishabh Pant and Chris Morris being other two retentions

Iyer started his IPL career in 2015 with the Daredevils at a value of INR 2.6 crore for three seasons before being pumped up to INR 7 crore as he played seven seasons for the franchise

KL Rahul, on the other hand, was acquired by Iyer's former team, the Capitals at INR 14 crore, which is a slight downgrade from his previous price point of INR 17 crore with the Lucknow Super Giants

Rahul, who was drafted as the captain of the new side Lucknow Super Giants three seasons ago, was priced the highest among retentions of all teams before the 2022 mega auction. Rahul earned INR 17 crore for all three seasons with Super Giants

KL's LSG salary was an increase from his previous gig with the Kings XI Punjab/Punjab Kings. Rahul was picked for INR 11 crore by the Kings at the 2018 mega auction before being named the captain ahead of 2020 season

Rahul missed the 2017 season for RCB but he was priced at INR 1 crore for three seasons. In 2014 and 2015, he was with the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the same price point before being traded to RCB for 2016 season in all-cash deal

Hence, evidently, Shreyas Iyer's monetary value has increased compared to Rahul even though the latter's record as a batter is much better, tells you how much premium teams put on you if you are a captain and especially when you have won the IPL title as a leader. Iyer has taken Delhi to a final and won an IPL with KKR and Rahul will hope to achieve that with Delhi this year if he is made the captain