In India's fabulous run to a fourth World Cup final on an unbeaten note, the discussions have been largely around Virat Kohli and the records he smashed, on Rohit Sharma's aggressive batting and stellar captaincy and Mohammed Shami's sensational story of coming off the bench midway in the tournament and emerge as the highest wicket-taker in 2023 World Cup. But like Gautam Gambhir, his former teammate Harbhajan Singh shed light on the contributions made by an “unsung hero” of India's World Cup campaign and backed the star batter to score a century in the final against Australia on Sunday.
Speaking on his YouTube channel on the eve of India's match against Pat Cummins and Co. in Ahmedabad, Harbhajan hailed the “massive contributions” made by Shreyas Iyer as a No. 4 batter for India. Two months back there were discussions on whether he would be included in the World Cup squad owing to a back injury he was nursing form and later during the first half of the tournament, few veterans were left concerned over Iyer's form. But he bounced back in style to score three fifties and two back-to-back tons, one of which came in the semifinal against New Zealand.
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“When we talk about selfless knocks then there is another player that comes to my mind. He has been India's unsung hero so far. His contribution has been massive and there hasn't been enough discussion about him. Look at his average of 75. He also smashed 2 centuries and 3 fifties and the pace with which he scored those runs shows that his contribution hasn't been any less than other members of the team. He was first injured, then made the team and the kind of cricket he has played since then...if there has been one player who has scored at a quick rate it has been Iyer in the middle overs. So huge credit to him. If he scores a century in the final, he will become the first player to score hat-trick of tons in a World Cup edition. And I want him to score a century,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“When we talk about selfless knocks then there is another player that comes to my mind. He has been India's unsung hero so far. His contribution has been massive and there hasn't been enough discussion about him. Look at his average of 75. He also smashed 2 centuries and 3 fifties and the pace with which he scored those runs shows that his contribution hasn't been any less than other members of the team. He was first injured, then made the team and the kind of cricket he has played since then...if there has been one player who has scored at a quick rate it has been Iyer in the middle overs. So huge credit to him. If he scores a century in the final, he will become the first player to score hat-trick of tons in a World Cup edition. And I want him to score a century,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Only six players have scored a ton in a World Cup final and that list includes no Indians. If Iyer does manage to achieve the three-figure score, it will be a historic feat for the India batter.
Earlier on Wednesday, Gambhir had hailed Iyer's ton ahead of Kohli's record-shattering 50th ODI century for India putting on a match-winning total of 397 for 4.
It is unfortunate that he isn't getting as much appreciation as others. Shreyas Iyer, for me, has produced unbelievable batting. He didn't let the pressure get to Virat Kohli. The difference between 350 and 390 was Shreyas Iyer. Imagine how much pressure India would have been in, if India had set a target of 350,” Gambhir said.