The 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Tuesday (April 15) marks a historic moment in the league as it is the first time that the title-winning captain is playing against the team he lifted the trophy in the following season as Shreyas Iyer leads the home side against the defending champions at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur (New Chandigarh).

For those unversed, Shreyas is the first IPL-winning captain to be released in the following season by a franchise. Despite the three-time champions using their full quota of six retentions, Shreyas did not feature in the list as Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh extended their stay with the franchise instead of going into the auction.

Shreyas went into the auction and was purchased by PBKS for a whopping value of Rs. 26.75 crore, making him the league's second most expensive player in history behind Rishabh Pant, who was signed by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for Rs. 27 crore in the same auction.

KKR's decision of not keeping Shreyas left the cricket fraternity in shock, and both parties have given contrasting explanations to the choice. The franchise's CEO Venky Mysore claimed that Shreyas was their first choice for retention but they did not reach a mutual agreement.

“The interesting thing about retention is that there are so many aspects to it and forces as play. But what is fundamental to a retention that most people sometimes don’t understand that it’s a matter of mutually agreeing. It’s not a one-sided right that a franchise has. The player also has to consider various factors and agree.

“Sometimes along the line that agreement doesn’t happen because of various factors; money or somebody wants to test their value or whatever it is. That influences a decision as well, eventually, but he was No.1 on our list,” Mysore said in an interaction with RevSports last year.

However, Shreyas claimed that there was no communication from the franchise towards him regarding retention which left him perplexed and ultimately led to his departure.

"Certainly, I had a fantastic time winning the championship at KKR. The fan following was outstanding, they were electrifying in the stadium and I loved every moment I spent there. So obviously, we had a conversation straight after the IPL championship. But for a few months, there was a layover and no concrete effort in having a retention talk. I was perplexed about what’s happening. So, because of a lack of communication, we came to a situation where we parted ways, mutually. And that’s the long and short of it.

"Yes, obviously disappointed, because when you don’t have a certain line of communication and if you get to know things one week prior to the retention date, then obviously something is lacking over there. So I had to take a call. Whatever is written is supposed to happen," Shreyas revealed in an interaction with Indian Express in January this year.

It is worth noting that in the 2025 IPL mega auction, KKR signed Venkatesh Iyer for a whopping Rs. 23.75 crore but stopped bidding for Shreyas at the Rs. 10 crore mark.

Shreyas' first match against KKR after leaving them did not go to plan with the bat as he was dismissed for a two-ball duck by Harshit Rana.

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