‘Shreyas Iyer is not in Indian T20I team’: Alarm bells sounded as ‘rest of the world’ told to ‘catch up’ before next WC
Former England captain Michael Vaughan admitted he was baffled watching Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer‘s thundering knock against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday in Ahmedabad as he realised the India star is not even part of the national T20 side. Iyer smashed an unbeaten 97 off 42 as Punjab won their season opener by 11 runs.
Priyansh Arya, making his debut for Punjab, got the team off to a brilliant start with his fiery 23-ball 47, before it was a Shreyas Iyer show at the Narendra Modi Stadium. He smashed five boundaries and nine sixes as Punjab amassed a match-winning total of 243 for five.
The cynosure of the knock, however, was Iyer sacrificing the opportunity to score his maiden T20 hundred. Amid single-handedly led the charge for the better part of Punjab’s innings, he stood just one hit away from the milestone. But he told Shashank Singh to go after all the six deliveries in the final over against Mohammed Siraj. The batter hit five boundaries in that over to help Punjab set a huge target.
‘Shreyas Iyer is not in the Indian T20I team’
Speaking to Cricbuzz after the match, Vaughan was in absolute awe of Iyer’s knock, before he realised that he was not even part of the Indian T20I side despite his batting prowess.
“It was brilliant. It really was from the first ball when he punched it down the ground. He makes sixes look very easy, and it’s certainly not. And I liked his flicks off the hip to the short ball. But the way he strikes down the ground off the spinners and the one over extra cover, he just gives himself a little bit of space and hits through the line just outside of the off stump. He’s a brilliant player. I just keep scratching my head and thinking he’s not in the Indian T20I team,” he said.
However, Vaughan added that Iyer’s inability to break into the Indian T20I team outlines the level of competition and warned the rest of the world to catch up before the two upcoming ICC tournaments—the T20 World Cup 2026 and the ODI World Cup 2027.
“It’s a real worry for the rest of the world that you know this Indian juggernaut. They’ve won the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, and the final of the 50-over World Cup. He played brilliantly in the 50-over World Cup. Just had a little bit of an off day in the final. Where is the next T20 World Cup? It’s in Sri Lanka. Then, the next 50-over World Cup in South Africa. I’ve just watched the T20 tournament in South Africa. Lots of spin, lots of slow wickets. So, it will not be any different for the 50-over World Cup. The rest of the world has got to catch up, and I don’t know how, I don’t know how they’re going to do because this Indian juggernaut has a mass of players, and I reckon you’ve got 30 odd players that you could choose from. Iyer is right up near the top of that,” he said.
