IPL 2022 | Shreyas Iyer is the new Kolkata Knight Riders captain

Two time Indian Premier League winner Kolkata Knight Riders confirmed their captain on Wednesday, 16 February. As anticipated, KKR announced that Shreyas Iyer will be taking over the reins of the franchise after England’s Eoin Morgan was let go after the conclusion of the season.

Iyer - former Delhi Capitals’ captain is widely regarded as a good captaincy material and was the prime reason behind Delhi’s turnaround. The Mumbai lad was bought for big bucks in the 2022 mega auction fetching Rs 12.25 crore. With multiple teams looking for a captaincy candidate it was expected that Iyer would not come cheap and it turned out to be true when Kolkata had to push for such a big amount on the 27-year-old middle order batter.

Iyer would be bringing his elite spin hitting capability to the KKR line-up - a place where the team has tremendously struggled in the middle orders and it is expected that he would do really well in the smaller dimensions in Mumbai.

Alongside Iyer, KKR paid big money to bring back home left-hander Nitish Rana (8 cr) Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins (7.25 cr) and Indian quick Shivam Mavi (7 cr). At a time it was looking like Kolkata were fairly out of budget to complete the squad, but a masterclass late in the accelerated auction saw them pick up Alex Hales, Sam Billings for a very nominal price. They also acquired the services of Mohammad Nabi, and Sri Lankan pace bowling all rounder Chamika Karunaratne.

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PSL 2022 | Will Smeed's efforts go in vain as Quetta Gladiators suffer defeat vs Peshawar Zalmi

Quetta Gladiators' Will Smeed's brilliant effort with the bat went in vain against Peshawar Zalmi as the side fell short by 24 runs to lose the match. Chasing 186 in 20 overs, the Gladiators lost wickets at regular intervals but Smeed held the fort from one end as he missed out on a century by just one run as he struck 99 off 60, a knock that included three sixes and 12 fours during the course. But none of the other batters were able to make a significant contribution as the team was restricted to 161/8 in 20 overs. Usman Qadir scalped three wickets for 25 runs in 4 overs. Earlier, the Peshawar side lost a couple of early wickets within the first two. Mohammad Haris and Shoaib Malik later had a parternship of 52 runs for the third wicket before Haris also departed for 29 off 17. Malik was then joined by Talat in the middle and two batsmen steadied the ship for the side and chipped in with individual fifties. Later, Ben Cutting got into the and played a cameo to score 36 off 14 to help his team put 185/7 in 20 overs on the board. Naseem Shah was the pick of the bowlers for his side after he bagged a four-wicket haul for 27 runs in 4 overs. "We have been seeing runs on the board is better as the ball holds to the surface and that's the reason we played an extra spinner. We got two good partnerships after losing early wickets and that is what we need keep doing," Wahab said after the match.