2 min readMar 20, 2026 02:53 PM IST
Former Indian cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath has rated Shreyas Iyer as one of the best Indian Premier League captains ever, behind MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir. Iyer has led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL 2024 title and then went on to captain Punjab Kings to a runners-up finish in IPL 2025, overall, where he has won 48 times in 83 matches as captain in IPL.
“It is a bit too early to compare him with legendary captains like MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. They are at a different level and among the best Indian cricket has ever produced. These two have five titles each. Shreyas still hasn’t won the number of titles, apart from the one with KKR, like these two legends. But he’s definitely up there. If you make a list of the best IPL captains, I’ll place him after MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, and Gautam Gambhir,” Badrinath said on his YouTube channel.
Dhoni and Rohit have both led their respective teams to five IPL titles each, while Gambhir led KKR to 2012 and 2014 IPL titles.
Speaking about the challenges and responsibilities of IPL captaincy, Badrinath stated: “IPL captaincy is difficult. On one side, you’ve Ricky Ponting and Australian players. Then you have Indian players on another side. You have the team management, and Preity Zinta might ask a few questions, which you’ll have to answer. To handle all of this as a young captain, Shreyas does it beautifully.”
While leading PBKS to the finals in IPL 2025, the skipper scored 604 runs in 17 matches at a 50.33 average and a 175.07 strike rate, including six fifties.
“PBKS is a favourite of many Indian fans because of their backing of Indian youngsters. Shreyas Iyer is seemingly the people’s leader. He captained brilliantly last year and also scored 604 runs, batting incredibly well. He singlehandedly carried PBKS to a runners-up finish. This season as a batter will be important for him to break into the Indian T20I side,” Badrinath said.
Overall, Iyer has scored 3,731 runs in 133 IPL matches at an average of 34.23 and a strike rate of 133.35, with 27 half-centuries.
