Shreayas-Iyer

Picture Credit: BCCI

Let’s face facts. There’s never a guarantee to find a permanent place in the Indian cricket team. Can there be any when you constantly have a massive influx of talent flowing into the top tier of the game from what is well-oiled machinery at the domestic level?

Call it the curse of being an Indian cricketer or the bane of playing amid plenty of talents, you can never take things for granted in Indian cricket.

Gone are the days when cricket was limited to two formats alone. With scant regard shown to elements such as player fatigue, which are too good to be ignored, there’s round-the-clock action. Live-action, one series after another.

The only positive- if any- from this is that many new faces have turned up for India. There’s a greater chance than ever before to find your place under the sun from any format, since T20Is have proven to be a major bringer of people from all over, besides being a massive contributor to the buck spinning hoopla that Cricket has become.

And one of the amazing results of the massive flow of talent for the national team is a certain Shreyas Iyer. The man, who, at least as of the last fortnight or three weeks, none expected to wear Test whites.

The very man who in his maiden opportunity to batting for India, has produced a century.

A sparkling century, if truth be told.

What else would you call a 105 off just 171, including thirteen fours and two sixes?

But the century is the after effect of trying, of trying really hard. The first important step is to have tried in the first place. And when he came out to bat on November 25, Iyer gave it everything.

Of course, it wasn’t easy for him. Facing Southee and Jamieson weren’t the only big challenges; the real task was to take India to a shore of safety after two established names in Pujara and Rahane had fallen early.

Well, if you deliver only 61 runs between yourself then how’s that ever going to help the team’s cause?

Luckily for India, one promising young gun, soon to turn 27, was in good knick.

With him at the end other, ‘Sir’ Jadeja, with whom an eventual 121-run stand was forged with gusto and effort!

But implicit in India’s first innings team of 345 were Shreyas Iyer’s vital 105 runs. That’s a third of what the team eventually made, should that explain Iyer’s vital knock and its efficacy?

Having said that, can Iyer still afford to take his second inning, which will hopefully come tomorrow, if not sooner, lightly now that he’s struck a century?

It’ll be a fool’s errand to act normal. For the challenge has only just begun. It’s a long walk ahead toward even considering the idea that one’s cemented his side.

Yes, Shreyas Iyer, you’ve begun nicely. Beautifully, in fact. Another fifty from here will only strengthen your claim into a lineup that needs the young anyhow.

But guess what? There’s also a perennial problem.

Surely, the road ahead is not easy. Which way the pendulum of selection flows, one can’t ever say for certain. But a thing that is certain is that Iyer will continue to strive. To march forwards.

A century is a great way to begin. May more runs flow. May Team India find the right mix, earlier than expected; for there’s far too much talent and too little time to devour the opponent. A World Test Championship is at stake.