Shreyas Iyer
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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
Kanpur: 2014, 2021
Arani Basu, Nov 27, 2021: The Times of India
Kanpur has proven to be a special place for Shreyas Iyer. Seven years ago he had come to the city playing for a place in the Mumbai team and ba counterattacking knock had given his First-Class career wings. Now, the Mumbaikar has made good his Test debut with a sparkling century at Green Park, liftinig India out of a vulnerable situation. This innings will surely go some way in enhancing his stature as an international batter and also help him shed the tag of being a ‘whiteball specialist’.
“When I came to Kanpur, I didn’t know I was going to play. Rahul (Dravid) sir and skipper (Ajinkya Rahane) came to me and suddenly I had to get into the mindset of red-ball cricket as the last such match I had played was three years back (Irani Cup vs Vidarbha). I took this up as an opportunity and as a challenge as well,” he said.
He knew the importance of this knock for his career. He has been dominating all levels of domestic cricket for nearly eight years. Yet, establishing himself as an international batter was taking a long time. When Iyer went back to the team hotel on Thursday night, batting on 75, anxiety gripped him.
“I couldn’t get good sleep last night. Especially when you are batting overnight, I thought I batted really well yesterday but had to still focus again today,” Iyer said.
His childhood coach Pravin Amre would tell him that a batter was recognised by his exploits in Test cricket.
“Whenever I go for training, Pravin sir keeps on saying that you have achieved a lot in your life, you have been the captain of an IPL team, you have scored so many runs, this and that, but that was in white-ball cricket. But your main achievement would be when you receive the Test cap and I am sure he was really happy when I received it,” Iyer said.
Iyer has proved a lot of his critics wrong. But now he is putting pressure on two established Test batters in the Indian team. Once regular skipper Virat Kohli comes in for the next Test in Mumbai, it will be interesting to see if the management is willing to take a call on the out-of-form Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane to fit in Iyer.
2016- 2020 Jan
January 25, 2020: The Times of India
From: January 25, 2020: The Times of India
On the evening of May 23, 2016, Shreyas Iyer appeared so frustrated he would have smashed anything in sight, just like he smoked Tim Southee out of the park to seal India’s win in Auckland in the opening T20I over New Zealand.
That day, after having smashed 1381 runs in 11 Ranji games in the 2016-17 season — the third-biggest tally by a batsman in one edition — Iyer had found his name missing from both India squads announced for the tour of Zimbabwe and the West Indies. “I can’t talk right now,” he had told TOI, before slamming the phone down.
Almost four years down the line, the man who gave him the snub, former India batsman Sandeep Patil, who was the chief selector back then, explains why they ignored the youngster, who blasted a 29-ball unbeaten 58 to help India chase down 204 successfully.
“There’s a big gap between Ranji and international cricket. You make runs in Ranji, but get exposed in international cricket. If you look at the example of Punjab’s opener Jiwanjyot Singh, even he scored a lot of runs in his first Ranji season. He was picked in India ‘A’ next year, but he couldn’t do anything.
“A similar thing happened with so many players, like Abhinav Mukund, Sachin Baby and Mandeep Singh. The selectors thought, ‘let’s wait and see him in the second season’. Many players do well in the first season, and then flop in the second. If you pick such players, the selectors get exposed. We wanted him to be more consistent, give him exposure with India ‘A’ under Rahul Dravid,” Patil told TOI.
There was also another concern with Iyer: the tendency to play loose strokes when bowlers were at his mercy. “The way he was getting out after scoring brilliant 60s and 70s was something which Rohit Sharma would do as a youngster. We wanted him to be more selective and responsible,” said Patil.
‘IPL CAPTAINCY HELPED SHREYAS MATURE’
Like in the case of Rohit, that sense of responsibility seems to have come with his elevation to the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) captaincy — a role which was thrust upon him after an out-of-form Gautam Gambhir dropped himself from the side. “His game changed for the better, in terms of responsibility, when he became captain, just like it happened with Rohit at the Mumbai Indians,” says Patil.
“Though he took a couple of years more, he has graduated. He must have given his approach to batting a good thought. He should make all his opportunities count, because there’s a big fight for middle-order slots.”
Iyer’s dismissals in the first two ODIs against Australia in Mumbai and Rajkot to Mitchell Starc and leg-spinner Adam Zampa also cast doubts over his ability to play high-class bowling. But he bounced back with an unbeaten 44 off 35 balls to usher India home in the decider in Bengaluru.
“He was disappointed with the way he got out in both the games against the Aussies. He badly wanted to contribute. His knock in the decider was important but it was still in India. The wickets offer a different bounce but he has adjusted beautifully,” said Pravin Amre, Iyer’s personal coach.
MENTAL TRAINING THE KEY
Iyer has also worked on his mental strength. “I worked with him when he was playing for the Mumbai under-16 team. He’s mentally very tough. He’s also grounded and a dedicated player, who was hungry for success. Whenever I would give him certain tips, he would work on them and get the results,” said sports psychologist Mugdha Bavare. “It’s important to train your mind. I’ve seen many players go through depression, having anxiety and also facing pressure in a tough situation. It’s quite normal. I’ve been through the same but I had Bavre ma’m besides me,” Iyer said in his testimonial on her website.
2017- July 2019
From: July 29, 2019: The Times of India
See graphic:
Shreyas Iyer’s International career, 2017- July 2019
Personal glimpses
Taken to a psychologist
NEW DELHI: Pushy parents tend to cause more harm than good to their children, enduring torrid times, but a few receptive ones dig deep looking for reasons behind the falling performance of their wards.
Santosh Iyer is one such father, who understood that his 16-year-old son Shreyas needed counselling more than scolding as he felt vulnerable due to a bad patch during his junior days. In Cricbuzz's latest show 'Spicy Pitch', Iyer senior recalled how his son, now a regular number four batsman in India's white ball teams, went through tough times.
"When Shreyas was 4 years old, we played cricket in the house with a plastic ball. Even then, he was middling the ball in a manner that convinced me that the boy had real talent. So, we did everything in our power to make sure he can fulfil his potential," Santosh said.
It was during his Mumbai U-16 days that Iyer's performance dipped and one coach attributed it to lack of focus which worried the father.
"When one coach told me that your son has talent, but he has lost focus along the way, I got a little worried. I thought he has either fallen in love or got mixed up in the wrong crowd (keeping bad company)!"
It was good eight or nine years back when mental health was not given much importance.
During these phases, the normal instinct for any parent is to admonish their children but Iyer decided to take his son to a sports psychologist.
"Eventually, I was told that there was nothing to worry. Like most other cricketers, Shreyas was simply going through a rough patch. And sure enough, he soon recovered his form and has never looked back."
Iyer has scored 748 runs in 18 ODIs with an average close to 50 with one hundred and eight half-centuries. In 22 T20Is, he has 417 runs at an average of 27 plus and a strike rate of 129.50.
