Shreyas Iyer rewarded for his dedication and consistency

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Bengaluru, November 2: Shreyas Iyer is the latest player to realize the dream of playing for team India and received his international cap from coach Ravi Shastri during the first T20 international Vs New Zealand .

Iyer, 22, who plays for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy has 11 hundreds and 19 half centuries in first class cricket. Iyer has been in the Indian team radar for many years now. Consistent scores in the domestic circuit and the Indian Premier League (IPL) worked out in his favor.

Iyer is a combination of class and sheer power. Even when being an orthodox batsman, he has transformed himself into an aggressive batsman to accustom to different situations.

Iyer usually bats in the top order, but the guy from Mumbai is open to batting in any position. The dynamism of Shreyas Iyer was in action when he opened the innings for Delhi Daredevils in 2015. He scored 439 runs in 14 matches and also won the emerging player award in IPL.

Last year in the IPL, he batted in the middle order to cater to the team requirements. This is how good Iyer can improvise and accommodate himself into any given batting position.

Shreyas Iyer was spotted by former Mumbai player and coach Pravin Amre at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana during his Under-14 days.

Shivaji Park Gymkhana is one of the oldest cricket clubs in India which has produced some of the biggest names like Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Sunil Gavaskar, Dileep Vengsarkar to name a few. Iyer was compared to Virender Sehwag in his early days.

Shreyas started making a name for himself in 2014 when he represented the Trent Bridge cricket team in the United Kingdom. He made 297 runs from 3 matches. It was just a start for the good things to come which was soon followed by his first class debut later in 2014.

Impressed by his stellar performances, he was signed by the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL for a whopping 2.6 crores. He made 439 runs from 14 matches and followed it up with scintillating performances in the domestic circuit.

In the 2014-15 Ranji season, he scored 809 runs at an average of over 50 and in the very next season, he showed his hunger for runs and scored big which transformed his game. He scored 1321 runs at a stunning average of 73.31.

Iyer was drafted into the India A teams post the domestic season, where he shone with big performances. In the series against Australia, he was part of the team to play the warm-ups and he was the stand out among all the other batsmen as he scored a hundred filled with class and temperament.

He has proved his worth in the Indian set up every now and then with consistent performances and was brilliant in last IPL as well, even after he missed most of the season with chicken pox.

The India cap is very well deserved for this youngster. India have been long searching for a consistent middle order batsman in the limited overs set up. India have tried and tested players like Pandey, Jadhav, Pandya, Rahul but still the search is on.

Iyer can certainly take the spot with his talent and professionalism and he just needs to stay grounded as the plaudits will come searching for him in the future.

It is just a matter of time before this incredibly talented youngster plays for India in all three formats of the game and is certainly the next big thing, not just for Mumbai but for Indian cricket as well.