Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer player profile

Shreyas Iyer is an attacking top-order batter capable of marrying classical shots with brute force.

He made headlines when Delhi Daredevils bought him at the 2015 IPL auction for Rs 2.6 crore (about US$416,000). It was faith he repaid with interest: he made 439 runs that season, and won the IPL Emerging Player of the Year award. Over the next six seasons, he became a mainstay of the side and its captain, making over 400 runs a season for them four times.

Iyer came up through the Under-19 ranks, hitting back-to-back fifties in the 2014 World Cup playoffs to help India finish fifth. He made his first-class debut for Mumbai the next domestic season, and after a lukewarm stint in the middle order, was promoted to opener and finished as the team's top run-getter with 809 runs at an average of over 50. He had a blow-out Ranji Trophy season the next year, with 1321 runs at 73, and made a century in the final, where Mumbai won their 41st title.

By then calls for Iyer to be fast-tracked into the India side had grown clamorous, but it took nearly another two years before he made his international debut, in the white-ball formats first. His first hundred for India came in an ODI against New Zealand in Hamilton in 2020, and he made a century and fifty on Test debut against the same side a little over a year and a half later, this time at home. In a Ranchi ODI in October 2022, he made a chase of 282 against South Africa look like a walk in a park with a well-paced unbeaten 113 that took India home with plenty of room to spare.

Shreyas Iyer IPL factfile

- After missing IPL 2023 with a back injury, Shreyas Iyer has returned to lead Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2024, though he has continued to have issues with his back.

- Iyer, a middle-order batter who excels against spin, joined KKR in IPL 2022 as their captain after spending his first seven IPL seasons at Delhi Capitals (DC).

- He was named Emerging Player of the Year for scoring 436 runs in his debut IPL season in 2015, and in 2018 he replaced Gautam Gambhir as DC captain after the season had begun.

- In 2019, Iyer led DC to the IPL playoffs for the first time after six years, and in 2020 he captained them to their first IPL final, where they lost to Mumbai Indians.

- Iyer missed the first half of IPL 2021 because of a shoulder injury, and when he returned for the second half of the season, DC decided to continue with Rishabh Pant as their captain. Iyer left DC at the end of that season and began his KKR career the following year.