I had locked myself in the washroom… Shreyas Iyer broke his silence for the first time on KKR's 'cheat'

Cricket News Desk. The mega auction for IPL 2025 took place in November last year. Earlier there was talk that Kolkata Knight Riders would retain their champion captain Shreyas Iyer in the team, but it did not happen. Shreyas Iyer, who won KKR the trophy for the first time in 10 years, was released. Punjab Kings bought him for Rs 26.75 crore in the auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Now Iyer has broken his silence for the first time on not being retained by KKR.

After reaching the final in 2021 under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan, KKR has finished seventh in both consecutive seasons. Iyer could not play in IPL 2023 due to back injury. However, he not only returned to the franchise in the second year, but also led the team to its third title under new mentor Gautam Gambhir.

Speaking to The Indian Express at the Idea Exchange, Shreyas Iyer admitted that he is confident that he will be retained. Especially when the franchise talked about retention so soon after the season ended. However, he was surprised when KKR did not make any such efforts after this.

Shreyas Iyer said, 'Of course, I enjoyed winning the KKR Championship.' I loved every moment I spent there, so naturally we talked right after the IPL Championship. But after this nothing could be clear. He didn't even contact me. No concrete efforts were made. I was confused about what was going on, so due to lack of communication we ended up in a situation where we had to amicably part ways.

After the start of the mega auction, Shreyas Iyer also became the most expensive player in IPL history for some time. Punjab Kings bought him for Rs 26.75 crore, after which Lucknow Super Giants wrote a new chapter by buying Rishabh Pant for Rs 27 crore. Shreyas Iyer was in Hyderabad during the auction. He said, 'I was watching it from my room in Hyderabad and I expected to get a good amount, but I never thought that there would be so much competition between two teams for me.' Overall, I was thrilled. After a while I closed the door and went to the toilet. I felt like I didn't want to hear what was going on.