Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Santosh Iyer (born 6 December 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who represents the India national team. A right-handed batter, he primarily plays as a top-order or middle-order batter across formats. Iyer also represents Mumbai in domestic cricket and captains the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He serves as the vice-captain of India's One Day International (ODI) team.

Iyer made his international debut in 2017 and has been a regular member of India’s limited-overs teams. He achieved a notable milestone on his Test debut against New Zealand in November 2021, scoring a century in the first innings and a half-century in the second, becoming the first Indian player to record both on Test debut. Earlier in his career, he represented the India Under-19s at the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

In major international tournaments, Iyer was part of the Indian squad that finished runners-up at the 2023 Cricket World Cup, during which he scored a century against New Zealand in the semi-final. He was also a member of the teams that won the 2023 Asia Cup and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. For his performances, he was named ICC Men's Player of the Month in February 2022 and March 2025.

In the IPL, Iyer began his career with the then Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2015, winning the Emerging Player of the Year award in his debut season, and played for them till 2021. He later captained the Kolkata Knight Riders from 2022 to 2024, leading them to the IPL title in 2024. In 2025, he was signed by the Punjab Kings for ₹26.75 crore (US$3.2 million), briefly becoming the most expensive player in IPL auction history before the record was surpassed in the same auction.

Early life

Iyer was born on 6 December 1994 in Chembur, Bombay. His father, Santosh Iyer, is a Tamilian, and his mother, Rohini Iyer, is a Tuluva. His ancestors are from Thrissur, Kerala. He was educated at Don Bosco High School, Matunga and at Ramniranjan Anandilal Podar College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai.

At the age of 18, Iyer was spotted by coach Pravin Amre at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana, who trained him in his early cricketing days. Iyer's teammates at the age group levels used to compare him to Virender Sehwag. During his graduation from Podar College, Iyer helped his college team win six trophies.

Domestic career

In 2014, Iyer represented the Trent Bridge Cricket Team. During a trip to the UK, he played three matches, scoring 297 runs and averaging 99 runs per game. He set a new team record with a highest score of 171.

Iyer made his List A debut for Mumbai in November 2014, playing in the 2014–15 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He scored 273 runs in that tournament at an average of 54.60. Iyer made his first-class cricket debut in December 2014 during the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy. He scored a total of 809 runs at an average of 50.56 in his debut Ranji season, including two centuries and six fifties. He was 7th highest scorer of the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy.

In the 2015–16 Ranji Trophy, Iyer scored 1,321 runs at an average of 73.39, including four centuries and seven fifties, becoming the top scorer of the Ranji season and the second player to score 1,300 runs in a single Ranji Trophy competition. In the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy, Iyer scored 725 runs at an average of 42.64, including two centuries and two fifties. He scored 202 not out off 210 balls against the visiting Australia team in a 3-Day Practice match in Mumbai, his highest first-class score.

In September 2018, Iyer was named the vice-captain of Mumbai for the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament. He was the leading run-scorer for Mumbai in the tournament, with 373 runs in seven matches. In October 2018, Iyer was named the captain of India B's squad for the 2018–19 Deodhar Trophy. He was also the leading run-scorer in that tournament, with 199 runs in three matches.

In February 2019, in the opening round of the 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament, Iyer made the highest score by an Indian batsman in a T20 match, scoring 147 runs.

In March 2021, Iyer was signed by Lancashire for their 2021 season of the Royal London One-Day Cup, but, in July 2021, Iyer opted out of the tournament to recover from an injury.

In February 2024, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) mandated Iyer to participate in the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy. Iyer did not play in the quarter-final against Baroda citing back issues. Subsequently, Iyer lost his BCCI central contract. Later, Iyer appeared in the semifinal against Tamil Nadu and the final against Vidharbha, as Mumbai went on to win the Ranji Trophy.

Franchise career

In February 2015, Iyer was signed in the 2015 IPL players auction by the Delhi Daredevils for ₹2.6 crore (approximately $430,000). Thus Iyer became the highest-earning uncapped player in the tournament. He scored 439 runs in 14 matches, with a 33.76 average and a strike rate of 128.36, and was named the Emerging Player of 2015 IPL.

Delhi Daredevils retained Iyer in the 2018 IPL Auction. On 25 April 2018, he was announced as the new captain of Delhi Daredevils replacing Gautam Gambhir. On 27 April 2018, he became the youngest captain to lead the Delhi Daredevils team in IPL history at the age of 23 years and 142 days during the match against Kolkata Knight Riders and was also the fourth overall youngest to captain any IPL team. On his IPL captaincy debut, Shreyas Iyer smashed an unbeaten match-winning knock of 93 off 40 deliveries with 10 sixes, which was his third successive IPL fifty of the season to power DD to a heavy total of 219/5 in the first innings of the match before earning him the man of the match award. Under his captaincy, Delhi Daredevils managed to defeat KKR by 55 runs to secure only their second win of the tournament. Iyer was retained by the Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2019 season, in which he led the team into the playoffs for the first time after seven years.

In the 2020 season, he continued as the captain for Delhi Capitals and he also led them to their maiden IPL final against the Mumbai Indians. Iyer scored an unbeaten 65 off 50 balls in a losing effort as Mumbai Indians won the final.

He missed half of the 2021 IPL season due to an injury in his left shoulder while playing for India in the first match of an ODI series against England in the same year. He returned after six months for Delhi Capitals. In the 2022 IPL Auction, Iyer was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹12.25 crore. He was also named as the team's captain. Despite having a bad season as captain with the franchise finishing 7th, he scored 401 runs in that year, the most for the franchise that year. In 2023, he was unavailable for the whole season due to a back injury, with Nitish Rana serving as the captain for that season.

He returned as the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2024 season. He led the team to the top position of the league stage table. In the final, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets to lift their third IPL title. He became the first captain to lead two teams in the IPL finals. He also scored 351 runs and strengthened the middle-order along with Venkatesh Iyer. He was released by KKR ahead of the 2025 IPL auction and signed up by Punjab Kings, being named as their captain in January 2025. However, he faced consecutive defeats as captain in the finals of two different T20 leagues - IPL and T20 Mumbai League.

Captaincy record

Indian Premier League

Captaincy for Delhi franchise

During the 2018 edition, Gautam Gambhir stepped down from captaincy due to poor performance of the team in the first half of the tournament and Iyer was made the interim captain for the rest of the tournament. The Daredevils won 4 games and lost 4 games simultaneously during Iyer's captaincy, though they finished last at the points table.

The Delhi franchise underwent rebranding and was renamed Delhi Capitals before the 2019 Auction. Iyer was announced as the captain of the team due to his previous leadership experience in the prior year, with Rishabh Pant being his deputy. Shreyas-led Capitals finished third in the points table and qualified for the IPL playoffs after 2012 with 9 wins and 5 losses in the league stage. Their campaign finally got ended in Qualifier 2, where they were defeated by Chennai Super Kings.

In the 2020 edition, Iyer-led Capitals finished 2nd in the points table with 8 wins and 6 losses, behind Mumbai Indians. They were defeated by Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1 but bounced back strongly against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2. This was Delhi's maiden and only (till 2024) Final appearance in IPL history. In the final, they lost to the eventual champions Mumbai Indians by 5 wickets and ended up being the runner-up of the tournament. This was the Capitals' best performance in their Indian Premier League history. Shreyas Iyer is the first and only captain to lead Delhi Capitals to an IPL Final.