The Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer received a grand welcome from the loyal fans of the team as he arrived at the team camp on March 16, Saturday.
Shreyas arrived to join the rest of his teammates in Kolkata on Saturday after playing in the Ranji Trophy final for Mumbai. The Indian batter was welcomed by the fans with cheers and fist bumps and Shreyas obliged to click a few pictures with them as well.
The fans did have banners in their hands with special messages for their captain, who is making a return after a brief hiatus from the IPL.
Why IPL 2024 will be important for Shreyas Iyer?
Shreyas is making a return to the KKR side and the IPL after missing last year’s tournament due to an injury. The Indian batter has been going through a turbulent period in international cricket.
After playing a pivotal role for the Indian team in the ODI World Cup 2023, scoring more than 500 runs, Shreyas found himself in a limbo during the series against England. After failure to convert his starts in the series, Shreyas found himself out of the side.
Iyer was excluded from BCCI’s central contract list along with Ishan Kishan, with questions also being raised on his commitment towards domestic cricket as he missed the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal for Mumbai.
However, he would come back to the side in time for the semi-final and final. While he struggled with the bat initially, Shreyas went on to score an important 95 in the second innings of the final as Mumbai ended up winning their 42nd title.
While there were question marks raised on his fitness, the Indian batter seems to have shaken off the niggle he was carrying and has now joined the KKR squad, who will start their campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 23 at the Eden Gardens.
KKR Squad for IPL 2024
Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (c), Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Phil Salt.
