Ten teams and some of the biggest personalities in T20 cricket will compete in the next season, the Indian Premier League. All of the squads in the mega auction have undergone significant alterations, and some new combinations may be proposed for the tournament’s eighteenth edition.
One of the most costly players during the auction was Shreyas Iyer, who was acquired by the Punjab Kings (PBKS) for an astounding INR 26.75 cr and was also appointed the team’s new captain. Head coach Ricky Ponting opened out about spending a lot of money on the 2023 ODI World Cup finalist after there were talks about Punjab spending a lot of money on Iyer. Ponting also underlined the importance of having a strong Indian core.
It’s the Indian Premier League at the end of the day. The foreign guys aren’t really that important. The foreign guys go for a lot of money, make a lot of hype, or something. However, I believe that I must reintegrate the appropriate Indian players into the team. In an interview with “The Howie Games,” Ricky Ponting stated, “We begin with Shreyas Iyer, with whom I have collaborated at Delhi.”
“He [Shreyas Iyer] exceeded our expectations.”
Arshdeep, one of our players from the previous season, went first, and I was rather anxious to make sure he didn’t go to the squad I was bidding against. We could have kept him on 18 cr, but he chose to take 18 cr, so we locked him up. Shreyas came in second. Then the leg-spinner, Yuzi Chahal. You talk about characteristics and people, but for me, he was also a no-negotiable. He went above and above the sum we had set aside for him,” Ponting continued.
Speaking of Shreyas Iyer’s time as captain, he won the championship with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last season and guided the Delhi Capitals to their first IPL final in 2020. After defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the finals, the team won the championship for the third time.