Iyer's Consistency Sets the Tone: A Look at Shreyas Iyer's Key Role in India's Triumph
Shreyas Iyer may not have grabbed headlines with a century, but his steady contributions and crucial partnerships throughout the Champions Trophy were vital to India’s success.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma labelled Shreyas Iyer as the 'Silent hero' for the men in blue, in the Champions Trophy. A title that aptly suits the Mumbai batter as he has scored 243 runs in five innings of the tournament, with an average of 48.60. He is the second highest scorer of the tournament, only behind New Zealand's batter Rachin Ravindra, who won the award for player of the tournament, scoring 263 runs at an average of 65.75. Despite being India's top scorer and second highest overall, Shreyas has largely flown under the radar in discussions about the tournament’s standout performers.
Shreyas Iyer's Crucial Partnerships Under Pressure
It is largely because he hasn't scored a hundred. With all his glitz, Shreyas scored 2 fifties in his five innings, but his impact has been massive. In the final against New Zealand, he partnered with Axar Patel to add 61 runs, at a stage when India lost their top three batter under just 17 runs, after getting a good start. It was a slow pitch and the new batters were struggling. They couldn't rotate the strike, and needed some time to get set with the pace of the ball.
Shreyas scored just 9 runs in his first 22 balls, while sharing a partnership with Rohit, but after the captain's wicket, he took the responsibility of scoring quick runs. Axar was going at a strike rate of 62.86 and could only score 22 runs in 35 balls he faced in the partnership. While Shreyas scored 39 runs in 40 balls, almost scoring with 100 strike rate.
Not just in the final but throughout the tournament, Shreyas has held one end firmly at crucial stages. Against Pakistan, chasing 242, India was two wickets down at a score of 100, when Shreyas walked in. By the time Shreyas got out, India just needed 28 runs to win and was 214/3. He went on to add 114 runs with Virat Kohli on the other end. Shreyas finally departed after scoring 56 runs off 67 balls.
In the group stage match against New Zealand, he was India's best batter. He scored 79 runs of 98 balls. More importantly, he stitched two crucial partnerships with Axar and KL Rahul of respectively 98 and 44 runs. It helped India to reach a par total of 249 runs, eventually enough for India's win. Shreyas is also the only player in the tournament to be involved in two 150+ runs partnerships in the tournament. He has accumulated 159 runs with Axar and 213 runs with Virat Kohli. No other batter has been able to do it.
Record-Setting Achievements and Consistency
In addition to all of this, Shreyas has also become the best number four batter in the tournament’s history by scoring 243 runs at this position. No batter has ever scored as many runs batting at number four in the Champions Trophy. Shreyas bettered Damien Martyn’s record of 241 runs. Shreyas has a habit of performing at the number four position in big tournaments. In ODI World Cup 2023, Shreyas scored 530 runs with an average of 66.25. It is the most runs by a number 4 batter in a single edition of the ODI World Cup.
I think the way Shreyas has played in the last couple of years, specially against spin, can be included into the test side, as we have been struggling against spin in the longer side.