‘Most improved batter, out of this world’: Shreyas Iyer is talk of the town | Cricket News – The Times of India

To say that Shreyas Iyer has rediscovered himself might be an understatement, contemplating his current stints with the bat, particularly in white-ball cricket. Besides the runs he continues to attain, it is the ease of batting that has stood out in his knocks of late.
Beginning his run as the captain of Punjab Kings towards Gujarat Titans in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season on Wednesday in Ahmedabad, Iyer hit a match-successful 97 not out in simply 42 balls, which included 9 sixes and 5 fours.
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The flat deck of the Narendra Modi Stadium wanted a giant complete from Punjab who batted first, and Iyer led the cost, with Shashank Singh taking up in direction of the finish along with his unbeaten cameo of 44 off simply 16 balls. It took Punjab to a mammoth 243/5, however the complete nonetheless confronted a valiant problem from the Titans who reached 232/5 earlier than shedding by solely 11 runs.
Iyer has undoubtedly come into his personal since being dropped from BCCI’s central contract record for 2023-24. He has come again from that setback with an unflinching resolve and a contact of swag.
He was not solely half of India’s Champions Trophy marketing campaign but in addition led the run-scoring chart for the staff and has began in the IPL from the place he left in the Champions Trophy.
It has earned Iyer all-spherical reward, together with from the former BCCI boss and India captain Sourav Ganguly, who got here out on social media platform X to precise his pleasure for the 30-yr-outdated batter’s success.

“Shreyas Iyer, the most improved batsman in last 1 yr .. ready for all formats. Great to see his improvement after a few issues on length,” stated Ganguly, who instructed that days of Iyer being troubled by the brief ball are behind him now.
His return to the Ranji Trophy noticed him scoring 480 runs for Mumbai in 5 matches at a powerful common of 68.57. Switching to white-ball, he scored 345 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and 325 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Also praising Iyer for his match-successful knock on Wednesday was veteran New Zealand batter Kane Williamson.
“What stands out about Shreyas is how he continues to evolve his game,” stated Williamson on JioStar. “For a period, teams targeted him with short balls, but now, he’s adjusting brilliantly — getting deeper in his crease, de-weighting his front leg and dominating the short-pitched deliveries.
“What is most spectacular is his capability to shift his weight ahead once more, making it troublesome for bowlers who attempt the ‘one-two’ method – going brief, then full. He’s now capable of entry all areas of the floor, which makes him such a formidable batter.”

The former New Zealand batter ranked Iyer’s knock against Gujarat Titans as one of “highest customary” and “out of this world”.
“It was a knock of the highest customary. From the very first ball, it was virtually a spotlight reel; he performed the ball precisely the place it was meant to be hit,” said Williamson.
“Anything exterior off stump, he seemed to entry the offside, and he even struck sixes over cowl towards some of the finest seamers in the world. Then, to tackle Rashid Khan as properly – that is one of the hardest challenges in the sport. As a frontrunner, to step in at quantity three, set the tone and tackle the opposition’s largest threats was exceptional. That innings was really out of this world,” he added.