IPL 2022 Mega Auction: 3 unexpected contenders who can bid for Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer is a talented young cricketer. He has a lot of promise to be one of the distinct batters for India in the future. Iyer is the ideal blend of aggression and elegance. It makes him the perfect top-order batter who can serve in multiple roles, depending on the need of the team.

Shreyas Iyer made his IPL debut for Delhi Daredevils (now known as Delhi Capitals). He has proven himself to be a dependable batter over the years.

His captaincy game has also been impressive. Iyer's on-field tactics and consistent performances pushed Delhi to two consecutive top-four finishes in the IPL. They even reached the final in the 2020 edition.

However, IPL 2021 was a miss-hit for Shreyas Iyer. He was injured for the first phase of the tournament and replaced as DC captain by Rishabh Pant. The Indian wicket-keeper was successful in leading the team and retained as captain for the second-phase as well, despite Iyer's return.

Eventually, Delhi announced Pant as their captain for the 2022 season and decided to release Shreyas Iyer ahead of the Mega Auction. Iyer expressed his desire to lead a franchise in the coming season, and that notion has a unique opportunity to open many doors for the right-handed batter.

There are franchises like RCB looking for strong, mature leadership in the post-Kohli era. But along with RCB, a few other teams will be eyeing Iyer as well. Let us have a look at these teams.

#3 Kolkata Knight Riders: They need stability in the leadership

KKR has experimented with their captaincy calls over the last few seasons. Dinesh Karthik was retained as captain going into the 2020 season. However, the Indian wicket-keeper decided to hand over his responsibilities to Eoin Morgan mid-way through the season. KKR did make the final in the 2021 edition but neither player has been retained ahead of the 2022 Mega Auction.

The big reason behind this was Morgan's failure to deliver as a batter. KKR need a captain who can do both jobs of being captain and an individually talented player. Moreover, the likes of Morgan and Karthik are in the wrong side of 30s. Shreyas Iyer will be a much younger captain who can bring in long-term stability to the Shahrukh Khan-owned side.

#2 Rajasthan Royals: A stable presence in the middle order

RR has retained Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Yashaswi Jaiswal for the 2022 season. Apart from Sanju Samson, Rajasthan's middle-order batting has been rather poor. No other batter was consistent in the middle overs and it hurt the Royals.

Although Samson captained the team in the 2021 edition, the Royals did not do well in the IPL. They finished second to last and the think tank might be looking to bring in a new leader.

It will also free up Samson to deliver with the bat. Shreyas Iyer can solve both the problems of being the new captain and the stable middle-order influence Rajasthan need.

#1 Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer to be the savior?

Punjab Kings have been on the fringes of success on multiple occasions in the IPL. Despite having a good, balanced team in the last three seasons, they failed to deliver on the pitch.

PBKS had two brilliant openers in Mayanl Agarwal and KL Rahul, who gave them solid starts. However, nobody else in the team had the consistency or maturity to carry on the innings. Their middle-order batters were mostly power-hitters who lost wickets at odd intervals, hindering the PBKS innings.

PBKS has only retained Mayank Agarwala and Arshdeep Singh ahead of the 2022 Mega Auction. With Rahul gone, they could rope in Iyer as the new captain. He will also be a stable middle-order batter.

Honorable Mentions

Sunrisers Hyderabad: SRH might also be looking at Iyer for two primary reasons: domestic leadership and sharing middle-order duties with Kane Williamson.