KKR have solid captain options in Cummins, Iyer: CEO

VENKY MYSORE, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) said on Saturday (12) that his franchise has two solid captaincy options in the form of all-rounder Pat Cummins and batter Shreyas Iyer, who they bought for a combined price of rupees 19.5 crore (£1.89 million) on the opening day of the two-day mega auction for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.

The KKR brought back Cummins for rupees 7.25 crore (£706,283) and picked Iyer for rupees 12.25 crore (£1.19 million), the moves that cricket analysts said were huge.

Mysore said in response to a query from Asian News International during a virtual press conference, “First of all, delighted with how the first session went for us. To get back Pat Cummins at that price, actually, we thought he would go at a higher price so we are delighted with that. Obviously, Shreyas is a quality Indian batter, so that's fantastic and we are very excited.”

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Pat Cummins (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

When he was asked whether Iyer will possibly be the KKR captain, the CEO said, “That is the decision the coach and think-tank will take. We need to digest the activities of the auction. Between Cummins and Shreyas, you have two solid options for captaincy.”

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The KKR have been looking for a worthy successor to Gautam Gambhir who had given them two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 but neither Dinesh Karthik nor Eoin Morgan proved to be satisfactory. While Morgan led the franchise to the final last year, his own batting form remained a consistent concern for the team.

Shreyas Iyer (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images)

While Iyer has proved his mettle as a captain in the IPL by leading Delhi Capitals to the final in the 2020 edition, Cummins recently captained Australia during their 4-0 win over England in Ashes at home (he led in four Tests while Steve Smith captained in one).