Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feels that KKR will miss Shreyas Iyer as captain and a batter. The Mumbai-based batsman has been ruled out for the first half of IPL 2022 due to back injury and Nitish Rana is acting as interim captain. Read more Rajkotupdates.News : Akash Chopra Says Shreyas Iyer Could Be A Captain For Kkr Or Rcb
Iyer is one of the marquee players who are set to attract high bids in the mega auction. The Mumbai-based batsman is an effective leader and possesses great tactical knowledge.
IPL 2022 Mega-Auction
The Indian Premier League 2022 auction will feature a marquee set of players. The likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan and Mohammed Shami are all enlisted in this list along with Trent Boult, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada.
The IPL franchises have the option to retain three players for a fee of Rs 33 crore. However, the Lucknow Super Giants and Ahmedabad will not have this right as they were part of a previous bid.
As a result, both teams will have to pay the highest bid for their players at the auction. According to former India batter Aakash Chopra, KKR could be interested in Shreyas Iyer. He also believes that the middle-order batsman will be expensive. The batting star missed the first phase of the IPL because of an injury and was replaced by Nitish Rana as captain. Moreover, he was ruled out of the India-Australia ODI series due to back pain.
Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer is an attacking top-order batsman capable of marrying classical shots with brute force. He made his debut for Delhi Daredevils in 2015 after being bought for 2.6 crore, and he quickly became a mainstay of the team and captain.
He led the side for most of last season before he was injured, and he will miss at least the first half of this year’s tournament. With Iyer out, KKR will have to find another leader for the competition.
Several names have been thrown around as potential replacements for Iyer, including Sunil Narine and Nitish Rana. However, Chopra believes that neither of them will be able to fill the shoes of Iyer. He added that Iyer could be a good option for RCB but he wouldn’t fit into the middle order. He would be better suited to bat at number four, where he can bat alongside Kohli and spinners Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee.
KKR
After losing their last two matches, KKR are at the bottom of the table with only two wins in seven games. They face a must-win game against RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has warned them against making frequent changes in their team and said that they should back their players to ensure that they are confident to play every game.
On the other hand, RCB are steadily improving under new skipper Virat Kohli. He is hoping to re-discover his best form against the struggling KKR side. However, he has to keep an eye on the availability of Indian batter Shreyas Iyer who is struggling with back spasms. He will be a crucial member of the Bangalore batting line-up if he is fit to play on Wednesday. In the absence of Iyer, RCB would have very few pure batters in their squad. The match will be a litmus test for both the teams.
RCB
Shreyas Iyer is set to be the most expensive player at the upcoming mega-auction. The Delhi Capitals opener is among the marquee players along with Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Shikhar Dhawan and Mohammed Shami.
He has a batting style that is based on conventional cricketing strokes and can also take advantage of errant deliveries. However, he has struggled with injuries over the last few years.
KKR will be looking for someone who can take over the reins if Iyer misses out due to injury. One of the options could be left-handed batsman Nitish Rana, who has captained Delhi in domestic cricket and has leadership experience. The franchise may also look at Tim Southee, who captained New Zealand to two of their biggest victories recently. They are scheduled to play their first match on April 1 against Punjab Kings. They will then face RCB in the next match. The Bangalore-based team is led by Virat Kohli and features the likes of AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini.