The Indian Premier League match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders had several talking points. They ranged from the team news at the toss, to KKR’s 52-run victory over the listless MI, from Jasprit Bumrah’s player-of-the-match winning spell to Pat Cummins match-winning performance. But what managed to raise several eyebrows in the end was KKR Captain Shreyas Iyer’s admission that the CEO of the team has a say in the selections and axing of players.

KKR’s selection policy is one of the issues that has plagued the side this season. The constant chopping and changing of the playing XI is likely to affect the stability of any team and it has reflected in the inconsistent performances from KKR, who are in the bottom half of the league table.

During the post match presentation, when the KKR skipper was questioned about how difficult it was to tell players about these many changes he said, “It’s really difficult. I was also in that position once when I started playing IPL.”

He then added, “We discuss with the coaches, obviously CEO (Venky Mysore) is also involved in team selection. Especially, Baz (Brendon McCullum) goes to the players and tells them if they are not playing. All of them are very supportive of the decision-making. The way they turn up to the ground, support each and every individual in the playing eleven, it’s something to be proud of as a captain. I am really happy that we came today with good spirits and played with all the energy.”

Watch the interview here.

Update: After KKR’s next match, Iyer issued a clarification:

The cricketing community on Twitter, unsurprisingly, had a lot to say about this admission from Shreyas Iyer.

Have a look at some of the reactions: