Shreyas Iyer deserves to be in every India XI, says Rudraneil Sengupta

A century on Test debut puts the Mumbai batter on an illustrious list that includes Rohit Sharma, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and G Viswanath. It’s exactly the start that Iyer, who has been overlooked time and again, needed.

This, right now, is Shreyas Iyer’s moment. It’s been a long time coming. He was, controversially, left out of India’s squad for the 2019 ODI World Cup, a decision the team likely rued every day of the tournament. Or not. Because Iyer was left out of the 2021 T20 World Cup squad too, and though the toss decided most matches in that tournament (really, it did; not only does the data say so, it was perfectly clear to anyone watching the games), the Mumbai batter’s ability to read situations and adapt may have helped India with just that slight edge that was missing.

Ease, confidence and skill: Shreyas Iyer on Day 1 of the first Test between India and New Zealand, in Kanpur on Thursday. (PTI)

No matter. After a pretty long wait, Iyer finally made his Test debut at Kanpur on Thursday. This time, not playing him would have been all but impossible — this is a team without the services of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli or Rishabh Pant, a team that then had to rule out KL Rahul, a day before the match, because of injury.

So, finally, some luck for Iyer. He was ready. A century on Test debut was fresh proof of just how giant a batting talent he is. Assured, aggressive, calculating and carefree, his innings was the highlight of Day 1 and it wore down the New Zealand bowlers.

His beautifully balanced, languid stance has something old-fashioned about it, and it sets him up to play his range of flowing shots. He had the confidence — on debut — to stand way outside the stumps, leaving them exposed, but allowing him to cut with impunity, loft anything aimed at his legs, and play teasingly late. This was a man making a statement. He is here to stay.

Perhaps the timing is just right for Iyer. India’s Test batting core — Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari — has never looked more unsettled. Even accounting for India’s thick pool of batting talent, as thick as the cream atop a vat of Delhi lassi, Iyer, 26, looks like he is on the cusp of something big.

And even though he’s had rotten luck with selections so far, this Test could be the turning point. India needs that one solid middle-order batsman who can do exactly what Iyer does so well: structure an innings, accelerate with gutsy big-hitting, bring the shutters down with his defence, or work away at the gaps for singles.

And he does it across formats, but for now, let’s just stay with Tests.

Many of India’s most recent additions to the Test team have been picked because of their performance in the Indian Premier League. Though that sounds counterintuitive, it has worked. From Jasprit Bumrah to Mohammed Siraj via Axar Patel, it’s the T20 league that brought their potential into focus.

Iyer is more old-school. His First Class record is exemplary. He boasts an average over 52 at a frankly scary strike rate just short of 82 from 54 FC matches. In his second season for Mumbai, in 2015-16, he amassed a season-best 1,321 runs, 95 runs short of VVS Laxman’s then record for most runs in a Ranji season. He hit a century in the final too that season, carrying Mumbai to the trophy.

Iyer has been tempered and forged in just the right way. Now he needs, deserves, the right pitch.

“If you are really a good talent, then you need a certain amount of chances to prove yourself and get acclimatised to the conditions,” Iyer said, after being left out of the 2019 World Cup squad. “If you keep coming in and going out [of the team], it doesn’t really set a good pattern for oneself and you start disbelieving in yourself.”

Hopefully, he will be given the chances that he needs.