IPL 2025: Shreyas Iyer shows he is ‘Punjabi By Nature’ with a turbo knock

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Shreyas Iyer, this has to be the classic case of a talented performer who has to keep proving himself despite being an achiever. Not born with the proverbial silver spoon in mouth, the case of Shreyas being a fringe player makes you cringe.

The underdog tag has been around his neck for years, and yet, he has not minded it. Given his talent, drive and skills, he should have played more for India. No, he has been given the short shrift for no fault of his.

On Tuesday night, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Shreyas turned out for Punjab Kings as debutant skipper. Having been bought at a princely sum of Rs 26.75 crores, a few felt it was an overspend. No, Punjab Kings and Preity Zinta were smart in buying a bloke with sublime white-ball cricket skills.

Shreyas lived up to the hype and yet again proved he is a selfless cricketer, sacrificing his century for the sake of the team's win. Punjab Kings beating the Gujarat Titans, sorry, cant call them Lions, was the script the IPL 2025 needed.

Enough has been written on Shreyas Iyer as a batter- a brilliant team man, a leader who has natural ability to guide. Yet, despite all this, life has treated him a bit unkind if you look at his journey. His is the case of a lower middle-class guy from Mumbai's maidans making it big. It is only recently he has been able to buy a nice flat for his family in one of the posh areas in Mumbai -- Worli.

At heart, he has the values of someone who is not a rich or spoilt brat but someone who has built his life and own wealth brick by brick. It is that same brick by brick efforts of his which has seen him play with three different IPL teams and yet be spoken of as someone under scrutiny.

Call it a quirk of fate or call it a twist with not being a favourite with the BCCI selectors (or jokers?) Shreyas has not minded it. Anyone who has followed the career of Shreyas closely will vouch he is a star performer.

Maybe, there is something bad in his birth chart where he has faced constant scrutiny as a cricketer. But then, he has made up for bad luck, a phrase used so often, to keep bouncing back like a yo-yo. He was a star with the Delhi Capitals in 2020. Despite leading the time into the IPL final that year, he lost captaincy soon. Shreyas did not mind it. He kept battling and wanting to prove himself.

That's his DNA, that's his template, perform, despite the odds. And each time he has faced setbacks, some because of injuries, and some because of whims and fancies of the selectors, Shreyas has largely kept quiet. Back to his IPL journey, this writer was fortunate to watch him lead in the IPL 2024 final against Sunrisers Hyderabad in a cauldron called the Chepauk in Chennai last May. The way he led and the team clinched the trophy, Gautam Gambhir the mentor became a mass hero and landed the national coach job.

In comparison, Shreyas got little credit when compared with GG. Again, Shreyas did not mind it. There was a bit of smirk, there was a bit of sarcasm when Shreyas spoke. Most recently, when he said he was in the ODI team against England at home by default and not design it was an honest mid-match statement.

One player was injured and Shreyas got in. Well, it was impossible to deny Shreyas that spot in the Indian team when he piled on the runs in the Champions Trophy. He was celebrated but never went overboard. He does not have the massive PR backing which Mumbai's big players have - Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.

Shreyas does not need it. He is a performer, and for him to be content with just 97 runs in the lung opener for Punjab Kings against Gujarat Titans was defining. He did not tell the batter at the other end, Shashank Singh to give him strike.

That's the greatness of Shreyas the skipper. Well, there are still a bunch of journos in Kolkata who think lowly of Shreyas. To walk out of KKR as winning captain and show them the middle finger and be ready for the IPL auction test, Shreyas showed a clear mindset. Just like the 97 runs he scored on Tuesday, at a strike rate of 230.95. Team above self, that's Shreyas Iyer.