Shreyas Iyer became the first captain in IPL to take three different teams into the final.
Following the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma last month, the BCCI named Shubman Gill as the new captain of the Test team.
Despite rumors that he would be selected to play in the No. 4 spot, which Kohli has left open, Iyer, who has dazzled everyone with his batting and captaincy over the past several months, was left off the Test squad. Iyer's name was absent, though, when the Indian squad for the England series was revealed.
Brad Haddin, the assistant coach for PBKS, has commended Iyer's leadership during the just-finished IPL 2025 season after observing him up close. Punjab Kings qualified for the playoffs by finishing first in the standings.
Iyer's brilliant knock against the Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 got them to the final. But in the end, Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated PBKS in the summit match.
Haddin recalled an incident in Ahmedabad where Iyer took a daring choice that defied all the information and analysis while speaking on The Grade Cricketer podcast. He brought up the game PBKS won against the Mumbai Indians because of Iyer's calm innings.
“You do all your planning for the game and at the stadium in Ahmedabad, everything says bat first. The analytics and the match-ups go through your team stuff, everything says bat first. And this is where our captain hasn’t got enough credit, and I hope, when they come down to pick an Indian captain, they really start to consider Iyer. He was outstanding throughout the whole tournament,” Haddin said on The Grade Cricketer podcast.
“We say to him, ‘Yep, we are batting first.’ But he goes, ‘No, we’re bowling.’ Punter goes, ‘okay let the captain make the choice.’ [Iyer] then said, ‘No, I’ll win the game and I’m going to bat second. Everything leads to batting first, but we bowl. Then the captain comes out in the second innings and plays one of the best knocks in IPL I have ever seen and gets us into the final,” he added.
While playing for the Punjab Kings, Iyer broke numerous captaincy records. Leading three different teams to the IPL final made him the first skipper to do so. In addition, Iyer is the only captain to guide two distinct teams to consecutive championship games.
He contributed to last year's IPL victory for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Iyer led the Delhi Capitals to their first-ever IPL final before that.