'Shreyas Iyer batted nicely throughout IPL 2024, but him as a leader...' - Shane Watson's bold verdict on KKR captain

Former IPL winner with Rajasthan and Chennai, Shane Watson heaped a lot of praise on Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer for leading his side very well. 

The Shreyas Iyer-led KKR team, after finishing the league stages on top of the points table, became the first team in IPL 2024 to qualify for the finals. It will be Kolkata's first appearance at an IPL final since the 2021 season where the Chennai Super Kings had defeated them to bag their 4th IPL title. 

With their qualification confirmed for the final, Shreyas Iyer and co. will be waiting to see who joins them in the final on May 26th. The finale, which is set to take place at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai, is the venue where KKR won their first-ever Premier League trophy. The M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru is the other venue where Kolkata won their 2nd and last IPL title. 

What did Shane Watson say about Shreyas Iyer? 

While speaking to Jio Cinema last night, Shane Watson had high praise for the innings that Shreyas Iyer played last night. Following a positive start given by Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, and the KKR stitched a 97-run partnership for the 3rd wicket. In fact, it was Shreyas who scored the winning runs of the match with a powerful six off Travis Head in the 14th over. 

On that note, Shane Watson claimed that it was not just about his performance in Qualifier 1 but Shreyas Iyer batted nicely throughout IPL 2024. Watto admitted that the KKR captain chose a very good time to score his 58 runs which took him 24 balls to score with a strike rate of 241.67. 

Shreyas' 5 fours and 4 sixes prompted Watson to claim that the former is hitting incredibly well. "Yeah, he played a crucial innings as well. He's batted nicely through this IPL. But to be able to put on a dominant display like he did 58 is a very impressive time as well. To be able to really know that you're hitting the ball incredibly well," Watson said via Jio Cinema. 

Watson admits Shreyas Iyer is a great leader 

Shane Watson went on to further add that Shreyas Iyer - the leader has also done a great job other than just batting well throughout the edition. As a leader, Watson feels that Iyer has had a lot of success as the players in the team have been successful in their ventures, which is a clear sign that Shreyas has done really as the leader of the pact. 

Back in 2020, Iyer became the first captain of the Delhi Capitals franchise to help the team reach the finals. However, the Mumbai Indians had defeated DC to win their 5th IPL title. But this year, Shreyas has a golden opportunity to claim the silverware for the first time.  

"But him as a leader, he's had a lot of success, which means that he's getting the best of the people around him. It's not just him doing his thing and he's performing well. The team around him, the players around him are doing very well, which is a which is a a telltale sign that you as a leader are doing a very good job," Shane Watson concluded.