Legendary Sunil Gavaskar believes defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders might look to reacquire the services of their captain Shreyas Iyer in IPL 2025 auction. Iyer was not retained by KKR despite the Mumbai batter leading the franchise to glory in the previous edition.
However, KKR CEO Venky Mysore revealed that Iyer wanted to test himself in the auction and they had to let him go. KKR retained Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Meanwhile, Iyer joined KKR after he was bought for INR 12.5 crore in the IPL 2022 mega auction. He was ruled out of the 2023 edition due to an injury. Gavaskar reckons KKR might not have been able to retain Iyer due to price disagreement.
Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports, Game Plan, “When KKR won last year (IPL 2024), Shreyas Iyer was the captain. As I said earlier for Rishabh Pant as well, at times, there could be a disagreement on the fees.”
“However, I also feel once Shreyas Iyer comes into the auction, KKR might also bid for his services. If KKR don’t bid, I feel Delhi will do that,” the former India captain added.
Iyer scored 351 runs in 14 innings of IPL 2024 at a strike rate of 146.86. On the other hand, Rishabh Pant was also not retained by Delhi Capitals and Gavaskar reckons the franchise might use Right to Match card to get back the services of the wicket-keeper bat.
“Delhi will want him because they will also need to find a captain if Rishabh Pant isn’t in their team. So I feel Delhi will definitely try to use the RTM card or bring Rishabh Pant back into their team at the auction,” he reasoned.
The former Indian captain feels Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings will target KL Rahul in the auction.
“I feel RCB might try to bring KL Rahul to Bengaluru. Chennai Super Kings can also try to bring him with them. So I feel these two southern franchises, Hyderabad might also do that, but Chennai and Bengaluru will definitely try for Rahul’s services,” Gavaskar observed.
IPL 2025 mega auction will be hosted in Jeddah on November 24 and 25.
