Earlier today, Kolkata Knight Riders appointed Shreyas Iyer as the new captain of the franchise. It was on the expected lines as KKR stretched to hire the cricketer at the IPL 2022 Auctions. Meanwhile, an interesting pattern has emerged after KKR revealed its new skipper. In this article, we take a look at KKR’s unique coincidence of its skippers after Shreyas Iyer was appointed as the new captain.
KKR’s unique coincidence of its skippers
At the IPL 2022 Mega-Auctions, KKR was one team that was in need of a new skipper. They also required an established Indian batsman to take care of the middle-order. Hence, they went after Shreyas Iyer and got him for INR 12.25 Cr. Now, the franchise has gone on to appoint him as the skipper of the unit.
🚨 Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, say hello 👋 to the NEW SKIPPER of the #GalaxyOfKnights
Advertisementঅধিনায়ক #ShreyasIyer @ShreyasIyer15 #IPL2022 #KKR #AmiKKR #Cricket pic.twitter.com/veMfzRoPp2
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) February 16, 2022
With this, KKR will have a seventh skipper in the history of the tournament. Incidentally, all their Indian skippers so far hail from the four metropolitan cities of India. While Sourav Ganguly, the first skipper, is from Kolkata, the most successful captain Gautam Gambhir is from Delhi. For IPL 2018, Dinesh Karthik, a Chennai-based cricketer, took over the reins. Now, it will be a Mumbai lad who will lead the team in the new era. Not many teams have come close to this unique record. The other players who have captained KKR are Brendon McCullum, Eoin Morgan and Jacques Kallis.
Shreyas Iyer will have a challenging job on his hand
Shreyas will have a lot on his plate for IPL 2022. KKR does have a few holes and Iyer must look to compensate them with his captaincy. While the major worry will be as to who would keep wickets, the next problem will be the death bowler. The fitness of players like Andre Russell, Varun CV and Sunil Narine might also worry Shreyas. Nevertheless, this will help him improve on the job.