IPL: How Shreyas Iyer the 'Sarpanch' loves to prove his critics wrong

There are no prizes for guessing that the glue holding the Punjab Kings, underachievers over the years despite assembling big names on board, has been their captain Shreyas Iyer along with head coach Ricky Ponting for the past two years. The results are showing: a runners-up finish last year after making the play-offs for the first time since 2014 and now staying unbeaten after seven matches to be on the cusp of back-to-back last four spots.

The only point they have lost so far is thanks to a rain-affected match—which reflects the team’s consistency and a new-found self belief that they are capable of turning a match around from anywhere. Their last game against Delhi Capitals on Saturday was a case in point when it looked that PBKS could be heading for their first-ever loss of the season after KL Rahul & Co set up one of the highest totals in IPL history with 264 runs.

However, PBKS kept their date with the highest IPL chase and the captain showed a flair in chasing with a fluent unbeaten 71 off 36 balls (total of 279 runs from seven matches on the eve of tonight's game). ‘’In my mind, I egged on myself by saying that we just need one run more from what they have scored,’’ the 31-year-old said as he continues to lead by example, having carved out an unit based on local talent, belief rather than big names and giving each of them a long rope—an ethos which must have had a buy-in from Ponting himself. 

This has led to fresh calls for making the Sarpanch—as Shreyas is now popular in the social media—to be a part of India’s T20 set-up again so that he can be considered for captaincy. The grapevine has it that there is a school of thinking which believes that despite retaining the T20 World Cup, the clock is ticking on Suryakumar Yadav as he is already 36 and has ceased to be the batter that he was as a world No.1 T20 batter not so long ago.

The re-assessment of the Mumbaikar as a captaincy material in the white ball set-up has come up organically as Shreyas had been proving himself in the role for the last three years—first collaborating with Gautam Gambhir to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to a IPL title after 10 years and then turning around the fortunes for PBKS. He has been receiving wholehearted endorsements from the likes of Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, but the contentious issue is whether any move to accommodate Shreyas in Indian T20 side will meet with an approval from the all powerful Gambhir.

 What is also remarkable is the way Shreyas has raised the benchmark for himself in the last two years to prove the naysayers wrong about him. Speaking on Jio Star’s Believe, the PBKS captain said: ‘’I have people around me who say that in this situation, you can't do it. It’s impossible. I don’t like hearing that. As a cricketer playing at the highest level, I just can't accept it. Then in my mind, I decide that I have to prove them wrong. The challenge becomes: I was in this situation, how can I come back stronger?' I push myself harder and try to return as soon as possible to prove them wrong. That thought keeps driving me, especially after injuries.’’

The short ball weakness taunt, for example, kept ringing in Iyer’s ears for a long time. In his own words, the batter admitted that the taunts ‘triggered’ him and he decided to put in the hard work to overcome this deficiency. ‘’People said I would never fix my short-ball problem. That triggered me. I wanted to prove them wrong by performing well, so I worked hard on it. Earlier, I would just take a single or try to keep the ball down, but now my mindset has changed. If I see a short ball in my zone, I am going to hit it for a six,’’ said Shreyas, who had been working with Pravin Amre and Abhishek Nayar.

 ‘’During my batting practice, I now try to play around 50 overs and face over 300 balls. That helps me understand what works for me. I don’t follow a fixed pattern. I give myself more time in the middle and face real bowlers, not just sidearm throws. The more I face bowlers, the clearer my movement becomes,’’ he analysed.

No wonder he likes a man in the zone. It just needs a vindication by the powers that-be in Indian cricket!