Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders announced middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer as their captain for the upcoming season on Wednesday.

Iyer was picked up by KKR, who edged out Lucknow Super Giants, in the recent IPL mega auction for Rs 12.25 crore. He was the third most expensive player at the auction behind Ishan Kishan, who went to Mumbai Indians for Rs 15.25 crore, and Deepak Chahar, who was retained by Chennai Super Kings for Rs 14 crore.

Having led Delhi Capitals to the IPL 2020 final, Iyer suffered a tough 2021 as he was sidelined for a lengthy period due to a shoulder injury. In that time, the Capitals opted for Rishabh Pant as captain and eventually decided to give the job to him permanently.

However, he is fit now and has made it to the India squad across formats over the past four months.

The 27-year-old had a fruitful stint at Delhi Capitals and will be taking over as Kolkata’s skipper from England’s Eoin Morgan. At DC, he was a consistent performer with the bat and score over 400 runs in three consecutive seasons from 2018.

Iyer has played two Tests, 26 One-day Internationals and 32 T20Is for India since making his international debut back in 2017.