Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer’s remarkable resurgence since the Champions Trophy has drawn praise from the IPL team’s spin coach Sunil Joshi, who has attributed his success to a relentless “hunger for challenges”.  Shreyas Iyer, who was not retained by Kolkata Knight Riders after leading them to the IPL 2024 title, began the current season with unbeaten knocks of 97 and 52, showcasing his stellar form.
In the pre-match press conference, Punjab Kings’ bowling coach Sunil Joshi was impressed with how Shreyas Iyer has upped his game over the last 8-10 months.
IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer bagged a Rs 26.75 crore paycheque with the Punjab Kings at the 2025 player auction. Shreyas Iyer is set to reunite with his ex-Delhi Capitals coach at the Kings and Ponting revealed that they were willing to go even higher for him at the auction.
The star India National Cricket Team batter Shreyas Iyer has said that his next big goal is to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy with the Punjab Kings (PBKS). Shreyas Iyer stated that he is ‘super excited’ to be a part of Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and added that he is aiming to end the title drought of the franchise.
Shreyas Iyer, likely captain of Punjab Kings (PBKS), aims to extend his sensational trophy-winning run in 2025 and secure the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 title for the franchise. PBKS acquired Shreyas Iyer for a whopping Rs 26.75 crore in the IPL 2025 auction after the batter led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their third IPL title in 2024.
Shreyas Iyer’s seamless season with the bat for Punjab Kings in IPL 2025 till now
The Punjab Kings (PBKS) franchise has once again gone for a complete revamp ahead of the IPL 2025 season. With a history of constant overhauls, PBKS retained only two players before the mega auction in Jeddah—Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh. They used the Right to Match (RTM) card to bring back star pacer Arshdeep Singh and re-signed utility player Harpreet Brar. However, the biggest talking point was their high-profile purchases, including IPL 2024-winning captain Shreyas Iyer and veteran spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
The team brought a sum of Rs 110.5 crore to the auction. By acquiring players like Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, and Nehal Wadhera, the team has assembled a formidable team. For INR 26.75 crore, PBKS defeated the bid of Shreyas Iyer, the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the IPL 2024 champion. A bid above INR 25 crore was seen for the first time in the history of the IPL auction.
Shreyas Iyer leadership qualities and proven record as a middle-order rock make him the ideal choice to spearhead Punjab’s campaign. Shreyas Iyer’s presence in the batting lineup adds stability, while his ability to anchor and accelerate will be crucial for the team. They have also brought in Ricky Ponting as their new head coach.
New Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer became the seventh IPL captain to score over 2000 runs in the tournament’s history. The 30-year-old Shreyas Iyer made his IPL debut in 2015 and was part of the Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) till 2021 before switching his base to Kolkata Knight Riders. In IPL 2024, he led KKR to their third IPL title in history but the franchise didn’t retain him after failed negotiations.
Interestingly, Shreyas Iyer scored a half-century on his debut for Punjab. Debutant Priyansh Arya set the platform with 47 runs off 23 deliveries. Shreyas Iyer capitalised on the momentum, completing his half-century in 27 deliveries. He brought that up with a cracking six against Rashid Khan in the 14th over of the match. It was his 28th half-century in the tournament.
A blistering unbeaten 97 from skipper Shreyas Iyer, a powerful finish from Shashank Singh and a terrific exhibition of bowling at the death from impact sub Vijaykumar Vyshak helped a new-look Punjab Kings make a winning start to IPL 2025. Gujarat Titans were in the hunt for the major part of the chase despite having a daunting target of 244 in front of them, but they fell short in the end by a mere 11 runs.
Building on the fiery start achieved by Prabhsimran Singh, Iyer smashed his second unbeaten half-century, alongside Nehal Wadhera, to chase down the target of 172 and guided PBKS to an easy 8-wicket win with more than four overs to spare. Shreyas Iyer’s smooth operation at the crease enabled the Punjab Kings to cruise to victory with ease Punjab Kings spin coach Sunil Joshi attributed Shreyas Iyer’s remarkable resurgence to his success to a relentless “hunger for challenges”.
PBKS bowling coach Sunil Joshi has special praise for skipper Shreyas Iyer’s resurgence in IPL 2025
Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer’s remarkable resurgence since the Champions Trophy has drawn praise from the IPL team’s spin coach Sunil Joshi, who has attributed his success to a relentless “hunger for challenges”. Shreyas Iyer, who was not retained by Kolkata Knight Riders after leading them to the IPL 2024 title, began the current season with unbeaten knocks of 97 and 52, showcasing his stellar form.
“If you look back at Shreyas’ contribution in the last 8-10 months from the Champions Trophy, playing not only against fast bowling, playing against spin has become more consistent,” Joshi said on the eve of their match against Kolkata Knight Riders here.
“He has shown the hunger and he is ready to accept every challenge he comes across. For any player of that calibre, you accept every challenge, every ball.
“I am sure that he has done some great work behind the scenes. It’s a good momentum to carry forward as a leader as well,” Joshi said.
In the 2025 Champions Trophy, Shreyas Iyer was the backbone of India’s middle-order, averaging 48.60 with four 40-plus scores in five games, including two fifties. Since February 2022, Shreyas Iyer has averaged 53.71 in ODIs and he is also among only six batters to score over 2500 runs since the 2019 World Cup.
Technical tweaks have aided his resurgence. A slightly more open stance now allows him greater access to the on-side and helps counter the short ball more effectively.
Shreyas Iyer also tends to go deep into his crease, giving himself extra time to execute his strokes. The Eden Gardens clash marks a return to familiar territory for Iyer, who captained KKR to their first IPL title in a decade, last season. Joshi acknowledged the leadership qualities Iyer continues to bring, even while talking to net bowlers.
“I think Shreyas is a young leader and if you look at him, he goes to each and every player, not only the squad player, he goes to even the net bowler, talk to them.
“That shows the confidence to each and every member in the team. And this is a great hallmark for a leader to come in future.
“As a genuine leader, when you go and speak to the players, especially the net bowlers, that means he is concerned about them. They are also part of our team. That shows the caring attitude,” Joshi added.
Asked if Iyer was approaching this game with extra motivation given his past with KKR, Joshi played it down.
“I think it’s as good as the regular game. Every game is an important game. Approach is the same. We need to go out and play good cricket, play to win,” he said.
With the Indian team set to tour England for a high-profile Test series this summer, questions linger about Iyer’s possible return. Joshi, however, chose to speak only on IPL- centric issues.
“I think let’s keep it to the IPL stuff only because I am not the right representative to talk about the Indian team,” he said.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders goes logger heads for the second time in Kolkata and this time the biggest challenge for Shreyas Iyer is to perform on the ground of the franchise he was the skipper last season who won the IPL Trophy.
Also Read: KKR vs PBKS: Shreyas Iyer’s Homecoming Ignites Eden Gardens Showdown