Gautam Gambhir Overshadowing Shreyas Iyer's Success In IPL? KKR Captain's Blunt Reply

Shreyas Iyer-led teams have reached IPL final two times in the last four years. But the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper has little qualms about not being celebrated enough as a leader and ceding spotlight to their mentor Gautam Gambhir. Iyer had led Delhi Capitals to the IPL title clash in 2020 before guiding KKR to this edition's summit match against Sunrisers Hyderabad to be played on Sunday. Asked if he feels that his achievements as a leader haven't received enough traction, the straight-talking Mumbaikar replied sharply. “The hype is definitely created by you guys (media). Where I stand (as a skipper) is definitely on you (to decide),” Iyer replied to a query from PTI during the pre-match conference on Saturday.

On Gambhir's contribution as the mentor, Iyer termed him as one of the finest readers of the game in T20 format.

“About Gautam bhai, I feel he has got immense knowledge about how the game is played. He has won two titles previously with KKR, and his strategies have been spot-on in terms of what execution we have to make against the opposition.” Iyer seemed confident that KKR would come up trumps against SRH with Gambhir offering his invaluable inputs from the dug-out.

“Hopefully, we keep continuing with the same momentum with his knowledge.” The last six months has been quite a roller-coaster journey for the stylish right-hander, whose initial reluctance to play red-ball domestic cricket saw him lose the BCCI central contract.

Iyer did come back and play the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha where he scored a 95 in the second innings.

The 29-year-old had a middling IPL so far and also wasn't remotely in contention for a berth in the T20 World Cup side.

The scars have not healed, and were evident when he