How Shreyas Iyer Quietly Became Everyone's Favourite Cricketer In IPL 2025
IPL 2025: Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer's redemption arc is being studied by fans who believe that the cricketer demands respect and deserves all the attention for his epic rise from the ashes.
Despite featuring in only two matches so far as the new skipper of Punjab Kings, Shreyas Iyer has become the talk of the town and we are glad. The 30-year-old batter, who was called “Rolls Royce" of the team by PBKS coach and legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting after the side registered an easy win against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday, hasn’t had a smooth sailing. Yet, Iyer has quietly become cricket community’s favourite player in a matter of a few months. When did the seas become calm for Iyer and what storms did he have to endure?
BCCI Drop
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The end of 2023 bore bad news for Shreyas Iyer. Iyer was excluded from the Indian team during the home Test series against England, then, he missed out on a Ranji match for Mumbai. He chose to sit out citing shoulder issue. The National Cricket Academy (NCA) declared him fit. This was against the board’s rule that required a cricketer to feature in domestic cricket when not playing international cricket. This resulted in BCCI axing Iyer from the central contract. Iyer scored truckloads of runs in the domestic circuit and honed in on his batting skills. It’s worth remembering that Iyer had plundered 530 runs in the 2023 ODI World Cup, only three months before the contract release.
KKR Release
Keeping his spirits high in testing times, Shreyas Iyer led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title in 2024. Iyer, however, was released from the camp despite captaining the winning franchise.
Iyer expressed his disappointment while maintaining that he loved his time at KKR during his three-year stint with the franchise and praised the owner Shah Rukh Khan.
“Yes, obviously disappointed, because when you don’t have a certain line of communication and if you get to know things one week prior to the retention date, then obviously something is lacking over there. So, I had to take a call. Whatever is written is supposed to happen," Iyer was quoted as saying by Indian Express.
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He maintained that there was no “concrete effort" shown by the team in having retention talks after the IPL 2024 triumph. Perplexed, he decided to part ways mutually from a team he once called his own.
Champions Trophy 2025
Shreyas Iyer was instrumental in India’s triumph in the Champions Trophy 2025. The right-handed batter notched up 243 runs in five matches at an impressive average of 48.6. He was also the highest run scorer for India in the Champions Trophy.
IPL 2025 – Punjab Kings
KKR exit was disappointing for him but it was followed up by some exciting news. He bagged a handsome deal of Rs 26.75 crore from Punjab Kings. This was the second-highest bid in IPL’s long history. Not only that, PBKS made him the chief to lead the side. The Punjab team have won 2 out of 2 matches in the ongoing IPL 2025, at the time of writing this. Iyer has been praised for his captaincy tactics – a worthy candidate, pundits believe, to become a successor of Rohit Sharma to lead Team India in future.
Here too, Iyer has shown his class with the bat and exhibited ease of batting on the cricket pitch. He has (so far) notched up 149 runs in two innings, 97* being his highest and match-winning score against Gujarat Titans.
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Iyer has no batting average yet as he is yet to be dismissed in this season of IPL.
Social Media On Iyer’s ‘Redemption Arc’
Iyer’s resurgence after overcoming several hurdles along his way in an appreciable one. The cricketer hasn’t really made much noise about his rise but his supporters, who carried him through his rough days, have come out in big numbers to write down some words of praise around his redemption arc.
“- Was called a Short Ball Bully
– Got Dropped from Test Squad
– About to be Dropped from ODI Squad
– Sacked from BCCI Contract
– Removed from KKR even after winning the title
This is truly one of the greatest comeback from Shreyas Iyer," wrote one user on ‘X’.
“Shreyas Iyer had international matches, was found out with a weakness, made a scapegoat for needless reasons and then went to domestic cricket, worked on every bit of his game and is now an absolute monster of a cricketer who is just hungry for runs. What a comeback," chipped another.
“Shreyas Iyer’s comeback in literally every form of cricket ever since getting dropped from that BCCI contract has been unreal," a third added.
BCCI Contract
And would you believe it? India star and PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer is all set to earn back his BCCI central contract for 2024-2025. “Shreyas is set to regain his contract, and it will be in a top category. However, discussions are still ongoing on whether in Ishan’s case," a report in Times of India noted.
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