India, May 19 -- Shreyas Iyer set a new captaincy benchmark on Sunday after Punjab Kings qualified for the playoffs in the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With Punjab ending the long-standing drought of making the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, Iyer became the only-ever captain in the history of the tournament to lead three different franchises to a playoff qualification.

Two of the instances came in successive seasons. Iyer had missed IPL 2023 owing to a back injury. But he came back a year later to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders, who had finished seventh in both of their previous two seasons, to a title win. However, Kolkata released Iyer ahead of the mega auction last October, only for Punjab Kings to sign hi...