Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 13 : Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper Shreyas Iyer revealed his reaction on the massive amount his franchise splurged on him to secure his services ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, saying that he was "gobsmacked" and not expecting to be picked up at such a high price.
Iyer had a memorable 2024 despite being removed from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) central contract due to an alleged lack of commitment towards red-ball cricket. One of the biggest highlights of 2024 for Iyer was being picked by PBKS for Rs 26.75 crores. This briefly made him the most expensive player in the cash-rich league's history, before Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) decided to free up Rs 27 crores from their purse to get the services of superstar wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant.
Speaking in an interview to ESPNCricinfo, Iyer, who will be leading PBKS next season, said that he at one point had covered his ears with cotton and just did not want to stay in front of the TV as his bid went up.
"I was absolutely gobsmacked. I wasn't expecting that amount, but I was expecting somewhere around that amount. So once the bidding crossed a certain point, I was covering my ears with cotton and I just did not want to stay in front of the TV. I went to the washroom. I was in Hyderabad at that point in time, playing Syed Mushtaq Ali (for Mumbai as a captain). Yeah, I was dumbstruck," he said.
No doubt Iyer was going to be sold for such a massive prize as he secured two T20 titles as a captain last year, the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the franchise's first in a decade and overall third. He also won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title with Mumbai as a captain. Last year, he scored 696 runs in 24 T20 matches and 22 innings at an average of 43.50, a strike rate of 164.92, with a century and three fifties. His best score was 130*.
He was also in top form as a batter across all formats, except for a brief dry run with India in England Tests and Sri Lanka ODIs. In 44 matches across all formats, Iyer made 1,841 runs at an average of 43.83, with four centuries and seven fifties and the best score of 233.