Ind vs Aus: After a year of disappointments, Shreyas Iyer is back. And how!

All year long, India’s brains’ trust has shown tremendous patience with Shreyas Iyer. Sometimes they might have been annoyed, at other times frustrated, but they never lost the faith. That faith was rewarded on Sunday night, when the 28-year-old from Mumbai signalled a return to full fitness with a spectacular third One-Day International hundred.

Iyer’s class has never been in doubt. A prolific run-getter in domestic cricket, he has taken to the international level with felicity, equally at home in all three formats. The runs he has made at the world stage — more than 3,000 and counting — have been mellifluous and eye-catching, the odd discomfort against the short ball more than compensated for with his acumen, game-smarts, and common sense.

The troublesome back

It was his back, however, that has been the cause of much headache. Since January, Iyer has missed more games than he has played. It was in Thiruvananthapuram, in an ODI against Sri Lanka on January 15, that his latest travails with his back began. A dash to the National Cricket Academy and three weeks of rehab later, Iyer joined the team for the second Test against Australia in Delhi, but after two matches, he again pulled up short, midway through the final game in Ahmedabad.

That was in mid-March; less than a month later, he underwent surgery in London with an eye clearly on World Cup selection. Six months was ample time to recover from surgery, to regain strength, to return to action, rediscover touch, and reclaim his rightful place. As theories go, it was faultless.

Things, however, didn’t go to plan. Iyer’s recuperation was long and, by his own admission, lonely. Every time he seemed to turn the corner, he ran into a roadblock. The Asia Cup in Sri Lanka was to mark his comeback, but that lasted just nine deliveries. Moments before the toss against Pakistan in Colombo on September 10, Iyer contracted back spasms; he didn’t play in the tournament again, working hard on his rehab instead, spending long hours at the nets and in the field as he was put through his paces by the medical team and infused with huge doses of confidence by Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid.

As Iyer watched, forlorn, from the sidelines, wicketkeeper-batsmen KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan grabbed their chances. The Sri Lankan sojourn was also Rahul’s return to play after thigh surgery while Kishan was trying his hand at batting in the middle order, not only because it’s hard to look beyond Rohit and Shubman Gill at the top of the order but also because his left-handedness in the middle of the innings is a great asset. Rahul’s sixth ODI hundred in his first outing since May and the ease with which Kishan took to the No. 5 position meant they had stolen the march over Iyer. With the World Cup only three ODIs away (at the time), the Mumbaikar had plenty of work ahead of him.

Iyer’s comeback

Iyer’s third international comeback of 2023 transpired in Mohali on Friday, on a night to forget. In the first ODI against Australia, he fluffed a sitter at mid-off to reprieve David Warner, the first in a series of fielding misadventures. He lasted only eight deliveries before running himself out, further evidence, everyone tut-tutted, that his head “wasn’t really there”.

The last two days couldn’t have been easy, especially not after seeing fellow Mumbaikar Suryakumar Yadav shed a run of 21 ODIs without a half-century with one of his more polished international knocks in Mohali. Iyer knew he was fast approaching make-or-break time. It was “perform at Indore, or else…”.

There are some players, only some, who relish pressure. They are wired in such a way that the greater the adversity, perceived or real, the harder they push back. So was it with Iyer on Sunday, after India were invited to make first use of a gun batting surface by Steve Smith. Ruturaj Gaikwad perished in the fourth over and then watched spellbound like the rest of his buddies in the changing room, a packed house at the Holkar Stadium, and millions on television as Iyer put on an exhibition in the company of the exceptional Gill.

“I have been batting beautifully in the nets,” Iyer was to say after picking up the Player of the Match for his silken smooth 105, off just 90 deliveries. Truth to tell, he did bat as if he were having a net. Admittedly, Australia’s two best bowlers, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, were sitting the game out, but there was no mistaking the plane at which Iyer, and Gill, performed. Strokes cascaded off his willow with authority; there were no half-measures when he took the aerial route but there were no indications that he was desperate for runs or that he was trying to manufacture shots.

A dream run

Australia wilted under the second-wicket onslaught, with Iyer and Gill matching each other stroke for delightful stroke. Gill is having the kind of year one can only dream of; Iyer translated his dream into reality. Rarely have two right-handers batted in tandem with such elegance, their 200-run alliance as breathtaking as it was foundation-laying.

Relieved more than delighted at having proven to himself that he still has what it takes, Iyer failed to capitalise on a “life” when on 101, holing out two deliveries later. It was a lapse pardonable this afternoon for the resilience, the spunk and the determination he had showcased. If he were in the Arnold Schwarzenegger mould, he might well have said, “I’m back”.

Iyer was the brightest star on another night of plenty for the Indians, whose 99-run win on the DLS Method gave them a winning 2–0 lead and cemented their hold on the No. 1 ranking. With both Suryakumar and Rahul making their second half-tons of the series and Kishan sparkling with an 18-ball 31, the scramble for the No. 4 and No. 5 berths is truly underway. As if that weren’t headache enough, R Ashwin produced a superb spell of off-spin bowling to remind everyone of what he brings to the table.

Ashwin is currently not in the World Cup 15, nor is pacer Prasidh Krishna who took two wickets in his first over. India’s cup of riches is spilling over, ten days ahead of a home World Cup they will now certainly approach as strong favourites.