Shreyas Iyer, as expected triggered a bidding war in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction in Bengaluru on Saturday as he became the first player on Day 1 to go past the Rs 10 crore mark. Kolkata Knight Riders bought the India batter for Rs 12.25 crore after fending off competition from his former franchise Delhi Capitals and the two new franchises in Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants.
Shreyas Iyer was sold for more than 5 times his base price of Rs 2 crore. Kolkata Knight Riders pulled out multiple times from the bidding war only to put in the winning bid of Rs 12.25 crore.
Iyer is likely to lead Kolkata Knight Riders who have so far retained Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine and Venkatesh Iyer.
The India batter raised his stakes by hitting a match-winning 80 on the eve of the auction in the 3rd ODI against the West Indies.
Shreyas Iyer was retained by Delhi Capitals both in 2018 and 2021. He was snapped up the franchise in 2015 for Rs 2.6 crore. However, ever since the Mumbai batter’s stocks have gone up.
Iyer led Delhi Capitals to their maiden final in IPL 2020. He was not able to lead Delhi in the first half of IPL 2021 due to a shoulder injury and had to stay away from captaincy as Rishabh Pant was backed by Delhi management.
Iyer has scored 2375 runs in 87 matches in the IPL. Between 2018 and 2022, Iyer scored at least 400 runs in a season with his best coming in 2020 wherein he managed 519.
