Former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu believes that Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer will be highly motivated to perform well in the IPL 2025 game against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Shreyas Iyer, who led the KKR to the title in the 2024 season, has been released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. During the auction, Shreyas Iyer joined the Punjab Kings and was appointed as the PBKS captain.
Rayudu sees Punjab Kings as a stronger team this season and believes they are one of the contenders for the playoffs this season.
“He’ll carry great memories of the ground and KKR, having won the IPL with them last season. There’ll be a bit of fire in the belly. he wasn’t retained, and now he’s captaining Punjab. I think he’ll be focused and motivated. Punjab looks the stronger side this season, and I see them as serious contenders for the playoffs,” said Ambati Rayudu.
Ajinkya Rahane’s KKR who faced Shreyas Iyer-led Punjab Kings in the ongoing season, suffered a defeat after failing to chase the low score posted by PBKS.
Reflecting on the responsibilities of Iyer, Rayudu echoed this sentiment, stating, “Punjab looks the stronger side this season, and I see them as serious contenders for the playoffs.”
KKR will be aiming to recover from consecutive defeats and return to winning ways. Kolkata Knight Riders is currently played in the seven position with three wins out of eight games while Punjab sits in the fifth position of the IPL 2025 points table with five wins out of eight matches.
Kolkata need to cope up five victories in remaining six matches to have a chance at qualifying for the top four.
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Luvnith Sisodia, Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Chetan Sakariya, Mayank Markande.
Punjab Kings Squad: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Josh Inglis, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Praveen Dubey, Glenn Maxwell, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Aaron Hardie, Azmatullah Omarzai, Kuldeep Sen, Harnoor Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash.
