CHENNAI: At some point during the 2024 IPL final pre-game press conference in Chennai, the then Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer candidly remarked on how much credit he gets — or doesn't — in the public eye has depended on the media. This was in regards to how the attention had been on Gautam Gambhir, the team's mentor at the time. “See, the hype is definitely created by you guys, I mean where I stand is definitely upon you guys,” he had said, before elaborating on how critical Gambhir’s tactical knowledge had been for the team.
He did not make it sound like a grievance. That was Iyer speaking his mind with little hesitation. He has always been that guy. Whether it was about the time he was removed from central contract or the time when he almost did not play the first ODI against England in Nagpur in the lead up to the Champions Trophy or the number of occasions before, after and in between these two moments... if you asked a straight question, you would get a clear, to the point answer without hesitation (there was also a time when he went off against a journalist after playing a match-winning knock against Sri Lanka at the 2023 World Cup).
His body language, the way he answers or the way he holds himself on the field, it's the way he has always been. That is just who he is as a person. Iyer has always been that guy; when he took apart R Ashwin as a 23-year-old in a 2017-18 Ranji match or when he was named Delhi Daredevils captain after Gambhir stepped down in 2018 or when he led Delhi Capitals to final in 2020 before going on to win the IPL title with KKR last year.
That confidence has never wavered. This year, however, there is something more to him than what the world has seen in the past decade. As the captain of Punjab Kings, Iyer has smashed 360 runs in ten innings at 180.9 strike rate — the highest among Indian batters in the top-ten run-getters this season. He has led the team to six wins which has put them in second place after the game in Chennai. He has been sensational against pacers and short-balls, something that used to be a perceived weakness. He has also been on point with on-field tactics without much noise around it.
In some ways, from the outside, one could sense that Iyer wants to do everything there is to make sure he gets due recognition as a batter, captain and leader. PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting, who has worked with Iyer in DC previously, is as much in awe of his transformation as the outside world. “Shreyas started this tournament in a form that I've never seen him in before,” Ponting explained.
“I had worked with him for a number of years at Delhi. He and I are really close off the field. We talk a lot about the game, we talk a lot about his batting, we talk a lot about the tactics of the game, but I actually think he's taken his game to a new level. I think he understands the game and game situations probably better than ever before, and I think that was showcased there tonight (Wednesday against Chennai), to be able to play the way that he did. I love working with him, he talks with all the players, all the players love working with him,” he added.
When Ponting uses the phrase ‘ like never before’, he was not exaggerating. For someone whose overall IPL SR against pace is 131.88, this year 63 per cent of Iyer’s runs (227) have come against pacers at a SR 194.01. The Australian, who was a master against short-pitched deliveries himself, was beaming with pride when he said he had nothing to do with the technical changes Iyer has made all by himself to improve.
“I’ve had nothing to do with that. You guys will see how his stance has evolved. He's opened his stance up a little bit. He's getting his right eye around more to the release point of the ball. And with his shoulders being open, he's being able to create some more access to the ball when the ball is back in towards his body. So that's stuff that he's all worked out himself. And we're still working on it pretty much every day. There's little things that he needs to do. Because it is such a drastic move that he's done. He's got to make sure that everything is in the right position and all his movements are syncing up really well. But, I mean, some of the innings he's played this tournament so far have been as good as anyone else's. I mean, there have been a lot of hundreds made, but Shreyas’ first game when he made 97 (against Gujarat Titans), that's as good an innings as I've seen in the tournament.”
Ponting attributes his success to the hunger of success Iyer has and the experience he has gained over the years as one of the most successful IPL captains of the last decade. “If you look him in the eye, you can tell that he's really hungry for success. He's just got that look in his eye where he knows he's the leader of this team. He wants to bring success to this team and this franchise. The way that he's playing, he doesn't look like he's going to let anything get in the way of that. So that's a great attitude for a leader to have, because that rubs off on everybody else around him," Ponting said.
"He's a lot more confident in himself now than he was, and that comes with experience. He won the IPL last year as a captain, so when you've done that and you've got that experience behind you and you believe and trust in your own instincts, I think that's the biggest thing with captaincy, especially in a T20 game. His ability to stay calm on the field, although he might not have been that calm tonight when we were a couple of overs late getting through the overs (laughs), but just his maturity, I think, and that experience. He knows he's got a lot of senior players around him that he can talk to if he needs to, but I think any time he makes a decision now, he sticks with it and trusts it, and that's a great thing for a captain," he added.
Indeed, and if everything everything goes to plan, Iyer could just become the first captain to lead three different IPL franchises into play-offs or even the final. It speaks volumes for two reasons. One, his malleability to work with different personnel around him. And two, different batches of owners have seen something in him to give him the keys to the captaincy.
By the looks of it, Iyer will do everything in his power to make it happen and this time, the recognition that's due will come his way.
