Former India player Aakash Chopra has said that Shreyas Iyer has joined the huge list of Punjab Kings (PBKS) captains in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well. However, he also stated that it was known after the auction that Iyer will lead the Punjab-based franchise in the
upcoming season. Notably, PBKS beat the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Delhi Capitals (DC) to acquire Shreyas for a whopping ₹26.75 crore at the IPL 2025 auction as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Shreyas Iyer has become the Punjab Kings’ captain. He is the 17th captain and the 18th season is about to start in a couple of months. However, let’s be fair, it was already known. When the auction was happening and it was going beyond ₹25 crore, you said it was done. You spend that much money only for the captain and not for anyone else. So if you spent that much money, Shreyas Iyer had to be the captain. There was no doubt about that.”
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“Delhi ran after him for a long time because I think they had promised him that they would make him the captain and asked him to come out of KKR. It seemed like KKR, since they had won, might also spend a lot of money to actually hold on to Shreyas Iyer, and might have realized later that they didn’t get a captain,” Chopra again stated.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra also shared that Shreyas Iyer will achieve a unique feat once he leads the Punjab Kings, although KL Rahul would also have that record if he gets to captain the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025 as well
“Shreyas Iyer has become the first Indian who will captain three different franchises. He has captained two and will captain the third – Delhi, Kolkata and Punjab. That’s another history he has created. 17 captains in 18 seasons – it is a very bad sort of record. It seems okay at the start and then you feel there is some problem. Why do these marriages not last for long? Sometimes the captain wants to leave and they sack the captain on other occasions. The coaches are sacked at times. There is plenty that keeps happening in Punjab,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
