“After Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli…,” an ex-BCCI selector reveals that Shreyas Iyer was being groomed to be the next captain of India

As the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the present IPL 2024, Shreyas Iyer is doing well. After their most recent triumph, a commanding display against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, KKR has surged to the top of the points table under his direction.

For their eighth victory of the year, KKR thrashed LSG by a total of 98 runs.

Iyer’s leadership ability was seen early on, according to former BCCI selector MSK Prasad, who believes he will be the next great leader.

Unlike Hardik Pandya or Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer has received coaching as a captain. He arrived via a mechanism, according to Prasad on RevSportz.

From 2016 until 2020, Prasad served as the BCCI’s head selector. During that time, he said that Iyer’s accomplishments as a skipper were recognized far sooner.

The former India stumper reflected on his stint with the India A team and cited Iyer’s successful term as a leader.

“If you review the statistics, Shreyas Iyer led the team (India A) throughout our two years in charge. I believe India A won eight of the ten series that they played. Shreyas commanded the side in most of the series. He has been a captain for a while. He has been prepared for that specific position, according to Prasad.

READ MORE: Lucknow Loses Third Home Game in IPL 2024 as Dominant Kolkata Takes Top Spot

Prasad continued by saying that the current captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Rohit Sharma, was supposed to succeed former Indian captain Virat Kohli, who led the team in all forms at the time.

We began considering Shreyas Iyer or Rishabh Pant because we thought that the team required a leader after Virat and Rohit Sharma. However, Iyer was a better captain than Pant,” he said.

Iyer did not start off as captain of KKR. He was named captain of the Delhi Daredevils (now the Delhi Capitals) in 2018, succeeding Gautam Gambhir, who also happens to be KKR’s current coach.

After Iyer was named captain, the team that had placed last in 2018 had a complete turnaround. They qualified for the playoffs in each of the next three seasons, and by 2021, they had moved up from third to second and even first place in the league standings.

Prasad said that Iyer has been able to create a formidable squad that is undoubtedly a contender for the current IPL season thanks to the club’s management’s backing and his leadership qualities.

He is becoming into an excellent leader gradually. Being a competent team manager is crucial when you first start out as a captain. That’s what KKR is giving him. They will invest in him since he is still a young man. He said, “We will see Shreyas develop into an amazing captain over the next two or three years.

Nevertheless, Iyer seems to have lost popularity on the international scene despite his outstanding performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup. As a result of his back injury worries and his poor batting performance in the just-finished home England Test series, he was taken off the central contract list.