"Here to bring back the glory days" - Twitterati rejoice at Shreyas Iyer's appointment as KKR captain

Bringing an end to some speculation and a lot of hype, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) announced Shreyas Iyer as their new captain on Wednesday. Iyer was KKR's most expensive buy at the recent IPL 2022 Auction at ₹12.25 crore.

The 27-year-old middle-order batter has extensive experience of leading Mumbai in domestic cricket and the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL. He was given DC's reins midway through the 2018 season amidst the franchise's most tumultuous time.

Shreyas Iyer led the young side with gumption and rebuilt the structure from scratch alongside head coach Ricky Ponting. In 2020, he became the first and only DC captain to lead the franchise to an IPL final. Overall, he's captained in 43 IPL matches, registering 23 wins and 18 losses.

KKR needed a leader after they decided to move on from Eoin Morgan. The Englishman led the team to a runners-up finish last season, but drastically failed with the bat. Pat Cummins, who recently propelled Australia to a dominating Ashes win at home in his first stint as Test skipper, was touted as another captaincy candidate.

In Shreyas Iyer, KKR will want to find a long-term leader who, apart from being a batting rock, could lead the franchise's development to a modern T20 powerhouse.

KKR fans and the cricket fraternity in general looked jubilant by the announcement, as they took to Twitter to express their reactions. However, a section of fans were also unhappy that Cummins wasn't given the captaincy duties.

The following are the best of the reactions:

"Extremely honored" - Shreyas Iyer on being announced KKR captain

In an official statement, Shreyas Iyer said he is "extremely honored" to have got the job and thanked the franchise stakeholders for showing faith in him.

He said:

“I am extremely honoured to have gotten the opportunity to lead a prestigious team like KKR. The IPL as a tournament brings the best players from different countries and cultures together and I look forward to leading this great group of very talented individuals. I would like to thank the owners, management and support staff of KKR for giving me the opportunity to lead this team and I am confident that we will find the right synergies to achieve the team's goals."

The IPL 2022 season is likely to kick off in the last week of March.