Iyer last played an ODI for India in February 2018, but he has been asked to lead Delhi Capitals this year.
Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer has once again made it clear that his focus remains on winning this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). And thoughts regarding national selection for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup aren't hovering around his mind yet.
"For me, the focus obviously would be playing match by match and IPL is really important because I am leading the team and winning every match is my first priority," Iyer was quoted saying by Sportstar on Saturday (March 23). "Thinking about the World Cup would obviously be the follow-up to the IPL. I don’t want to think much about the selection process."
Iyer's preparation for IPL 2019 where Delhi Capitals begin their campaign away from home against Mumbai Indians today kickstarted a month back with the premier domestic T20 competition - Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The Mumbai right-hander smashed away two very fine hundreds in that tournament and finished as the second highest run-getter with 484 runs at an average of 60.50 and strike-rate of 152.20.
"I personally feel the IPL preparations start from (Syed) Mushtaq Ali (Trophy). From there onwards, we try and focus on how we go about in T20 (Twenty20) innings and that’s where we start planning," he added.
Iyer then talked about former India captain Sourav Ganguly who has joined Delhi Capitals franchise as a cricketing advisor and said, "Obviously he is a very experienced campaigner. He had led the Indian side to many victories. With him and (coach) Ricky (Ponting) together in the team, giving advice to all the youngsters in the team and even the experienced players, it is really important."
"Obviously him sharing the knowledge and his experience, he is like totally focused and more motivating when it comes to practice sessions and he coordinates sessions with players, so it’s been a really good time which we have spend with him so far in the camp," he concluded.