Shreyas Iyer is the only Captain to have reached the final of the TATA IPL three times, each with a different team. Aakash Chopra and Irfan Pathan discussed the possible reasons why Shreyas Iyer does not get enough credit as a Captain, his reasons for exiting DC and KKR, and what could change the overall perception of him as a leader.
Aakash Chopra explained why DC couldn't retain Shreyas Iyer following the TATA IPL 2021 season:
“Shreyas Iyer got injured in the middle of the season, and it was always between him and Rishabh Pant, two young players Delhi had invested in. Then you hand over the captaincy to someone else. You want what is right for the franchise more than what is right for the player. If you can stop either of them from leaving, and if both want to be Captain, we are not privy to that information, but the fact is they must have had a conversation and felt that Rishabh is indispensable. They needed him, and since he had already been given the captaincy, they decided to stick with him. Shreyas must have felt that if he were to stay at the franchise, he would want the captaincy as well. So, he moved to a different franchise and did well. Sometimes, things are beyond your control, and perhaps that was the case with Delhi Capitals and Shreyas moving away.”
On why Shreyas Iyer didn’t get enough credit as a Captain in KKR’s title win in 2024:
“I think his contribution as a leader got diluted a bit in the narrative that’s often set by people who are not a part of the team. Two things happened at KKR with Shreyas Iyer. He was in a setup where the coach was also a very strong and popular personality. That wasn’t the case with MS Dhoni or Rohit Sharma, or even Virat Kohli at RCB, where there wasn’t such a dominant figure outside calling the shots. Here, you had Gautam Gambhir, a very successful player and a very good mentor. The others, MS, Rohit and Kohli, have been India Captains for a significant period and very successful ones. Credit is already given to them on a platter. In Shreyas’ case, he is not an India Captain. But he is now getting his due, because he is doing so well.”
On what could lead to an increase in recognition for Shreyas Iyer as a Captain:
“If you think that if he wins one more trophy, everything will suddenly change and everyone will stand up and applaud, that may not happen. The appreciation may get louder, but his aura will not change overnight. Something like that can happen only in one scenario. The next T20 World Cup is in 2028. I am not saying that India’s T20 leadership will change immediately, but there is a possibility a couple of years down the line. If he stakes a claim to that spot, scores runs, which is the first criterion, takes his team to the playoffs, the final, or wins the trophy, and somehow becomes India’s T20I Captain in the near future, whether in 12 months or by the next World Cup, then everything will change. He could even become a World Cup-winning captain for India, and that aura is different. Then he would not need any endorsement from anyone.”
Irfan Pathan explained why DC and KKR were not able to retain Shreyas Iyer:
“In Delhi, they wanted to make Rishabh the Captain. They did it when Shreyas Iyer was injured at the start of the 2021 season, and when he returned, they didn’t hand that baton back to him. After that, I don’t think Shreyas was very happy about it. That was visible from the outside. If we talk about KKR, from what we understood through off-season chatter and discussions, on a personal level, whether it was about the price or other such factors, both parties were not on the same page. That’s why you didn’t see Shreyas Iyer returning to KKR after winning the trophy.”
