Punjab Kings (PBKS) splurged a whopping INR 26.75 crore for the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL)-winning captain Shreyas Iyer at the IPL 2025 auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, November 25. The Mumbai-born player briefly became the costliest player in the tournament history, going past Australian pacer Mitchell Starc, who got INR 24.75 crore last year. Rishabh Pant took him over soon after as Lucknow Super Giants bought him for INR 27 crore.
Notably, Iyer led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their third title after a gap of 10 years in the IPL 2024 season. The Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals (DC) entered a bidding war but failed to match Punjab's whopping purse. This is Iyer's third IPL franchise after playing for DC and KKR.
Fans on X trolled Punjab for spending a huge amount to purchase Shreyas Iyer at the IPL 2025 auction. One user wrote:
"Iyer sold for 26.75cr to Punjab. Shreyas is good but This is desperation from Punjab. Congratulations Shreyas! Most expensive player in ipl."
Another user wrote:
"Iyer at 26cr is a very inflated purchase. His batting is average. captaincy alone ain't gonna cut it."
A third user added:
"Reason why these mini chokers never won IPL..spent 26 cr on Shreyas Iyer Lol.. (clown) management pbks.."
Here are a few more reactions:
Shreyas Iyer favorite to lead PBKS in IPL 2025
Shreyas Iyer is now the favorite to lead the Punjab Kings in IPL 2025. As a skipper, he has 38 wins in 70 games in the T20 league.
With the bat, Iyer has amassed 3127 runs in 115 matches, hitting 21 half-centuries. In 2024, he scored 351 runs in 14 games with the help of two half-centuries.
The Punjab-based franchise are in search of their first-ever IPL trophy. They finished second-last in the points table with five wins in 14 games last season.
Apart from Iyer, PBKS used the Right to Match (RTM) for Arshdeep Singh, shedding away INR 18 crore for the left-arm pacer. They entered the auction with the maximum purse among 10 teams after using only two out of six possible retentions.
PBKS retentions for IPL 2025:
Shashank Singh: INR 5.5 crore
Prabhsimran Singh: INR 4 crore
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