Shreyas Iyer played a key role in India's Champions Trophy triumph earlier this year.
After an all-time great campaign in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Shreyas Iyer struggled with recurring back injury and then lost his BCCI central contract owing to disciplinary issues. He was also dropped from the Test side and was not considered for selection in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad as well.
Shreyas made a return to the ODI team during the England series earlier this year at home, where he scored 181 runs in three matches with two fifties at an average exceeding 60 and a strike rate over 123.
Since then, the 30-year-old hasn’t looked back. He finished as India's leading run-getter (243 runs in five matches at 48.60) in the triumphant ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign in Dubai. Iyer played a critical knock of 48 in the title clash against New Zealand, while his top score of 79 in the tournament also came against the Kiwis in the group-stage.
During his time away from the national team, the right-hander had led KKR to IPL 2024 title and captained Mumbai to success in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy while also securing the Ranji Trophy.
On Tuesday (October 7), Shreyas Iyer received recognition for his performance in India's Champions Trophy win at the CEAT Cricket Ratings Awards in Mumbai.
"It was a rollercoaster ride and things looked in shambles and helter skelter earlier. But I told myself to set a routine, discipline myself and play domestic cricket. I went back to my time in Mumbai, played the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. I performed in all these tournaments, and they helped me boost my momentum and confidence heading into CT. Then I was lucky to have played in ODIs against England and stamp my authority there," Shreyas said.
Talking about his batting approach in ODIs, Iyer explained: "During the CT, I was in a position where I had to play ball to ball in the start and then put myself in pressure and charge against bowlers. We thought in Dubai, 250-300 was a winnable total. My job was to take the team to that total, and then after that, let us see what happens. Looking at the line-up, our bowlers, we had immense confidence that we would be able to defend. We were also confident of chasing."
Addressing criticism about his susceptibility against short-pitched bowling, Iyer responded: "Over the last two years, there were talks about me that I could not play a certain shot, and when I came back, I wanted to prove everyone wrong. I worked on myself, wanted to take on the bowlers and it was just I, had to challenge myself to put myself in that pressure situation to take on the bowlers. It is a matter of practice. The more you hit that shot, practice against difficult bowlers, the more confident you get."
Shreyas Iyer will next feature in a three-match ODI series against Australia, starting October 19 in Perth.