Shreyas Iyer, the highly anticipated middle tier player for the Indian League, was presented with the captaincy of Punjab Kings. The right-handed 30-year-old, hailing from Mumbai will probably lead the side under the bat owned by Preity Zinta in the 2025 version of the IPL which is likely to commence on March 21. Iyer was the man to lift Kolkata Knight Riders for the IPL win of the Year 2024; he was one of the biggest spenders of the Mohali-based franchisee, Punjab Kings, as they spent Rs 26.75 crore on the first day of the IPL 2025 mega-auction, which was held in Jeddah on November 24-25 last year.
With this Iyer becomes the 17th player in 18 seasons that have led PBKS in the richest cricket league of the world. Iyer was named captain of PBKS on the day of his captaincy as the first Indian to have led three IPL teams. He captained the Delhi Capitals from midway in the 2018 season up to 2020 and then came back to lead KKR in IPL 2022 and 2024. In his leadership, Delhi Capitals played the final in 2020 edition and KKR won the title in 2024. He goes down in the IPL historical record books as leading two teams to play in the IPL final.
Players to lead 3 IPL teams
Mahela Jayawardene – Kings XI Punjab (2010), Kochi Tuskers Kerala (2011), Delhi Capitals (2012-2013)
Steve Smith – Pune Warriors India (2012), Rising Pune Super Giants (2017), Rajasthan Royals (2014, 2019-2020)
Shreyas Iyer – Delhi Capitals (2018-2020), Kolkata Knight Riders (2022, 2024), Punjab Kings (2025-)
Only two other players have captained three IPL teams-Mahela Jayawardene and Steve Smith. Jayawardene started as captain of the IPL with Kings XI Punjab, and then led Kochi Tuskers Kerala and later Delhi Capitals. Smith became captain of Pune Warriors India, then named Rising Pune Super Giants, and also led Rajasthan Royals in the 2008-2010 league.
Iyer also received the IPL captaincy for his side, PBKS, in the 2025 edition of the IPL, Sunday, when Salman Khan, a Bollywood actor, announced his name from the TV reality show, Bigg Boss.
Iyer has captained in 70 IPL games and pocketed 38 out of them. He has the record as the sixth most successful captain in IPL’s history so far. Other captains who have won more as a captain than Iyer are MS Dhoni (133), Rohit Sharma (87), Gautam Gambhir (71), and Virat Kohli (66) in the top five, as well as David Warner in this club (40).
Iyer is one of the five-only Indian players to have claimed an IPL title as a captain. This year in the IPL, Iyer will be playing for Ricky Ponting, who is heading the franchise with the appointment from August last year as a coach from the former Australian captain.