For Shreyas Iyer, job only half done this season

AHMEDABAD: As Shreyas Iyer and Rajat Patidar walked into the ground floor press conference room of the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, after finishing the captaincy photoshoot, the former looked tired. It was understandable considering the fact that less than 15 hours ago, Shreyas was out on the field after winning the Qualifier 2 game for Punjab Kings against Mumbai Indians at the same venue.

The Mumbaikar smashed an unbeaten 87 off 41 balls — which he would go on to classify as the best T20 knock he has played — ripping apart the mighty Mumbai Indians bowling attack. He did so without breaking a sweat, uttering a word, showing a shred of emotion before spitting out the chewing gum and walking off the field.

So, given a choice, he probably would not want to be back in the venue in about 15 hours again; the Punjab team did not train, but the captain had to come for the press conference. After the successful chase, which went on till 2 AM on Monday, all he wanted to do was go to his room and crash. That is what he said when asked if there was any update on the fitness of Yuzvendra Chahal. “All I can say is that I went back to my room and slept,” Shreyas said on the eve of the final.

Sleep, however, did not come easily. Such was the intensity of the knock in what was the most important game Punjab had played till Monday, adding the fact that he knew he had to come back again and do it all over on Tuesday, Shreyas could not switch off. “I couldn’t sleep. Seriously, I only got 4 hours of sleep last night. And here I am sitting,” he explained.

In his own words, Shreyas was “locked in” during the chase against Mumbai. It is a “zone” he goes into long before the match begins — right from the warm-ups, he says. When he came on to bat, Shreyas took his time before exploding, including against Jasprit Bumrah. The shot he played to send Bumrah’s pinpoint yorker to the boundary has already been made into a GIF and played on repeat. “I had a certain plan of how I was going to play on this particular pitch. It was red soil, so I had to plan. Once my eyes are set, you just need to get your eyesight locked in and be in the zone. So, after that, it was just about the flow. And yeah, thankfully that I clicked,” Shreyas said, before adding, “Winning the match for the team, obviously the best feeling in the world. And on a pressure occasion, yes, I would rate this the topmost innings of mine.”