Chennai: You have got to feel for what has been the last few months for Shreyas Iyer, but from one singular sentence on Saturday you can deduce why he might have put himself in the position he finds himself in now.
This is not about the Indian Premier League because as far as this tournament is concerned he has scored 345 runs, and has captained the Kolkata Knight Riders to the final. This is about his relevance to the Indian team.
During the pre-final press conference at the MA Chidambaram stadium, Iyer slipped in a: “I was definitely struggling after the World Cup in the longer format, and when I raised my concern, no one was agreeing to it.”
After an impressive World Cup at home, Shreyas had complained about back problems and pain in the groin area. But the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s medical staff insisted that he was fit and picked him for the tour to South Africa and the home Tests against England.
In the Tests he featured, he was poor to say the least, prompting the selectors to drop him from the three remaining Tests against England at home.
Extending his time to rehabilitate, Shreyas pulled out of the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy season for Mumbai before returning for the semifinals and the finals. But by then, he had managed to rub the powers that be the wrong way, leading him to lose his central contract with the Board. More pertinently, he wasn’t going to onboard India’s flight to the Americas for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
But this IPL season could well ring in the change, should he learn to manage his emotions better.
“All I did was stay in the present and not think about what is going to happen to me or worried about the selection processes or anything. I just wanted to come and participate and see to it that I play to the best of my abilities,” he said.
“When the IPL was approaching, all I wanted was to see to it that I put my best foot forward. The transformation from red-ball cricket to white-ball is kind of difficult as a batsman and also as a bowler, I feel. It was difficult at the start, but once you get used to it, I think you pick up the pace and match up with the other players.”
Earlier in the tournament Shreyas had said: “…if I even do it wrong, I want to learn from it and see to it that I don't repeat it again.”
Well, he made the mistake of opening up once again. Maybe this claimed ignorance by the BCCI will be ignored by the Board, but knowing their history with the fine comb, it won’t go unnoticed, and that is not good for Shreyas.
You have got to feel for what will be the next few months for Shreyas.