Former BCCI chief selector MSK Prasad said Shreyas Iyer is being groomed to be the next India captain after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Iyer, who was a regular in all three formats until recently, is going through a challenging phase after losing the core contract of 2024-25 for not playing in the Ranji Trophy despite the board’s orders. The talented right-hander was also not at his absolute best batting form in IPL 2024, where he scored 257 runs in 10 games. But his captaincy was outstanding. Kolkata Knight Riders are second in the IPL standings with seven wins from 10 games and have a good chance of qualifying for the playoffs.
Prasad said unlike Hardik Pandya or Ravindra Jadeja, Iyer was groomed for a leadership role. When he gets his chance, he has a better chance of succeeding at the highest level.
“Unlike Hardik Pandya or Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer has been groomed (as captain). He has been through A system,” Prasad told Rev Sports.
The former India wicketkeeper-batsman said Iyer was ahead of Rishabh Pant when the selection committee considered options to prepare for the post-Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma era. Prasad said Iyer had a pretty good record during his tenure as captain of the India A team.
“If you look back at the statistics, in the last two years, when we were in charge of the team, Shreyas Iyer led the team (India A). I think in India A We have won 8 of the 10 series and in most of these series, Shrias has been the captain and we feel that after Virat, Rohit Sharma, you need to. Someone to lead the team, that’s what we started thinking about, Shreyas Iyer or Rishabh Pant, but even ahead of Pant is Iyer as the one. Captain,” he added.
Iyer’s first major leadership exposure came in 2018 when Gautam Gambhir resigned as Delhi Capitals captain midway through the season and handed over the reins to the young Iyer. Prasad said Iyer was lucky to start his leadership career under head coach Ricky Ponting in DC. “He was lucky enough to lead Delhi Capitals under Ricky Ponting. That’s where the development process started. Unfortunately, when Rishabh took over from him and did quite well, Washington The best part about DC not being able to retain Iyer is that he moved away from DC so that KKR could give him captaincy duties.”
After suffering a shoulder injury early in 2021, the right-hander was unable to feature in the first leg of IPL 2021 and ended up losing the captaincy to Rishabh Pant for the entire season. He was released and acquired by KKR in the mega auction ahead of IPL 2022. Prasad said Iyer has shown signs of maturing into a very good leader.
“He is slowly maturing into a very good leader. At the beginning of a captain’s career, it is very important to have good team management. That is what he will get from KKR. He is young and they will invest in him .In the next two or three years, we will see Shrias develop into a great captain.”