Since getting dropped from BCCI’s central contract list last year, Shreyas Iyer has really stepped up to show his critics what he’s made of. He led Kolkata Knight Riders to an IPL win last season and then guided his home team, Mumbai, to victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Recently, he played a crucial role in India’s Champions Trophy win, going unbeaten.
Iyer kicked off IPL 2025 in style with an impressive 97 not out for his new team, Punjab Kings, earlier this week. This has caught the eye of cricket legend Sourav Ganguly, who made it clear he thinks Iyer deserves a spot in the Test and T20I squads. After the PBKS beat the Gujarat Titans in a thrilling match, Ganguly tweeted: Shreyas Iyer is the most improved batsman in the last year. Ready for all formats. Great to see his growth after some issues with his length.
Shreyas iyer the most improved batsman in last 1 yr .. ready for all formats . Great to see his improvement after a few issues on length @ShreyasIyer15 @bcci
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) March 25, 2025
Iyer and Ishan Kishan missed out on central contracts from BCCI because they didn’t play domestic matches for their teams, even after the board urged players to do so when they could. Iyer was let go by KKR before the IPL mega auction, and PBKS picked him up for a whopping Rs 26.75 crore.
He also earned praise for his team-first attitude when he encouraged his teammate Shashank Singh to go for it during the end of their innings against GT, telling him to not worry about missing out on a century. Shashank later shared Iyer’s advice: “Don’t think about my hundred. Just hit as many boundaries as you can.” Shashank went on to score a quick-fire 44 off just 16 balls, helping PBKS post a total of 243/5, which was too much for GT to chase down.
