'Shreyas Iyer’s leadership is unbelievable': Australia World Cup-winning captain bows down to PBKS captain

Shreyas Iyer is a household name in Indian cricket. But surprisingly, in the recent past, he featured only in a limited number of matches for the national side. On April 17, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) claimed a commanding win over the Mumbai Indians (MI) under the leadership of Shreyas, overshadowing a brilliant century of the MI opener Quinton de Kock.

Former Australian captain Aaron Finch expressed his amazement at seeing the PBKS leader and batter play only a limited number of matches for Team India. The limited number of opportunities Shreyas Iyer received shows the sheer amount of competition and depth in the Indian cricket pool.

Aaron Finch is amazed to see Shreyas Iyer only in a handful of matches for Team India

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Aaron Finch stated that Shreyas Iyer’s leadership quality is unbelievable. But it is scary for the other teams as he does not play too much cricket for Team India.

“He's just started like a house on fire. His leadership is unbelievable. It is staggering that he does not play more cricket for India. It's scary for oppositions and other international teams around the world. Look at the depth of Indian cricket at the moment,” Aaron Finch said in the discussion.

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The former captain called the PBKS captain 'unfortunate.'

Finch considered Iyer a little bit unfortunate as he received a limited number of chances to shine for the Men in Blue. He further explains that for a team that has just defended its T20 World Cup title convincingly, it is not easy for them to make a shuffle in the squad.

“That's the unfortunate thing. You have to respect the position they are in at the moment. They are coming off a World Cup win. It's not as simple as saying, he's in great form, so he comes in. That's just some unfortunate timing for the guys who are in the second rung,” the former cricketer further explained.

For me, if I am the selector, he definitely walks in because he is one of the better players in that middle order - Piyush Chawla

For Piyush Chawla, Iyer will be an automatic choice if he is the selector of the team purely because of his batting credentials as a middle-order player.

“For me, if I am the selector, he definitely walks in because he is one of the better players in that middle order, and he has got that cricketing brain on his shoulder and can actually lead this Indian squad if you are looking at the future. For me, he walks in definitely,” the former cricketer turned cricket expert asserted.

In the ongoing IPL 2026 season, Shreyas Iyer is in stunning form for the Punjab Kings, scoring 203 runs in 4 innings with a strike rate of 187.96 and a batting average of 67.66.

With an in-form Shreyas Iyer in the middle-order, PBKS has been perfroming maintain a fine tune. With 4 wins and a washed-out match in 5 fixtures, they are now the table topper with 9 points and a net run rate of +1.067. As of now, Punjab is the only undefeated side in IPL 2026.

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