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    Shreyas Iyer, and a mind without clutter

    Synopsis

    Exactly a year ago, a reluctant teenager was dragged to the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to watch the home team play in the Indian Premier League

    Anand Vasu, Wisden India

    Exactly a year ago, a reluctant teenager was dragged to the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to watch the home team play in the Indian Premier League. A little over two months ago, that boy went under the hammer for Rs 10 lakh at the IPL auction, and by the time the Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians had been staved off by the Delhi Daredevils, he commanded a wage of Rs 2.6 crore. Only two days ago, the Mumbai Indians felt the full force of a flashing blade, 83 runs screaming off 56 balls as Shreyas Iyer announced himself to the world loud and clear. Iyer, who made 809 runs at an average of more than 50 for Mumbai in the last Ranji season, has been on the radar of more than one IPL talent scout. TA Sekar, who has experience of picking youngsters, both at the MRF Pace Foundation and as a national selector, was the one responsible for getting Iyer to Delhi.

    "Identifying Shreyas was something. I saw two of his innings in domestic cricket and then spoke to Pravin Amre, who is an assistant coach with the Daredevils, and he told me that Shreyas was a good boy,” says Sekar. "Importantly, he said he was not one of those typical Mumbai batsmen who plays the orthodox way and scores mostly in the ‘V’. He can hit the ball anywhere. I spoke with Gary Kirsten and then we picked him.”

    Iyer won over the crowds, but even before that, he had the two big guns in his team in his corner. "Shreyas looks an amazing prospect. He’s fearless and takes on even the quickest international bowlers,” says Angelo Mathews, who knows a thing or two about clean hitting. "I hadn’t seen Shreyas till I got to Delhi this time. But the first time I saw him bat I thought this was a serious talent. He’s going to do a lot of good things in the future.”

    JP Duminy, the Daredevils captain, went a step further. "I have no doubt Shreyas is going to play for India one day,” says Duminy. "How long he takes, it is up to him. I think it is the start for great things to come for him. He oozes with confidence and backs himself whatever be the situation, definitely, a bright prospect.”

    At the crease, Iyer is as confident as they come, but sit him down for a chat and the words are as hard to come by as dot balls in a Twenty20 game. Iyer took to the game when his father, who once turned out for SIS College in Mumbai, used to throw plastic balls at him at home. From there it was Antonia da Silva school in Dadar and then Don Bosco, where football’s loss was cricket’s gain.

    For all his Mumbai pedigree, though, Iyer does not bat like you might expect him to. "I don’t get into this khadoos business. I just like to play my natural game,” says Iyer. "Whatever the situation is, this is the way I play. When the situation requires it, I can be calm and cool and play a lot of balls. But if I see I can play my shots, and make runs, I’m not going to stop myself.”

    On Sunday, Iyer will be a little more excited than usual when he takes the field. "I don’t idolise anyone but I love to watch AB de Villiers play. Sometimes I copy his style,” says Iyer. "Not in the nets, but directly in the match. I’ve never told my coaches that I copy AB. Mr 360. People say I’ve got time to play my shots. I don’t premeditate anything, I just react to the ball instinctively.”

    Ask Iyer where his confidence comes from, and the answer is disarming. "When I’m at the crease I don’t quite understand what happens,” says Iyer. "I can’t hear the crowd, I don’t see people in the stands. There’s only me, the bowler and the fielders. I go blank and just play.”

    This sounds incredibly simple, and it is, in some ways, but to be able to go out and execute this philosophy day-in and day-out is as difficult as anything in the game.







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