The answer to Shreyas Iyer's T20I suitability might be more complicated than it seems

24th February, 2022, India find themselves in a commanding position when Shreyas Iyer strides out to the centre. The Men In Blue have, largely courtesy of Ishan Kishan, established a position of ascendancy. However, a period of calm could hand back the initiative to Sri Lanka.

After 12 overs of madness, India ransack 112 runs, losing only Rohit Sharma’s wicket in the process. Kishan has left every bowler in his wake and has made India dream of a 200-plus total. At the other end, Shreyas, who hasn’t been a regular feature in India’s T20I setup but has always been around, is chomping at the bit to leave his mark.

The former Delhi Capitals batter, by the way, is part of the playing eleven only because Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli have been rested, meaning that the stakes (from a personal standpoint at least) are at its crest.

His innings, however, doesn’t begin as smoothly as some of his more recent international knocks. He scratches around, drops the ball into the vast open spaces for singles but lacks the oomph India are craving.

There is only a sparse crowd present at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow but the murmurs are clear for everyone to hear. One fan brings up Shreyas’ dwindling strike rate in the middle overs and argues that a more natural hitter – someone like Sanju Samson or Venkatesh Iyer should have walked in ahead of him.

There is another school of thought hinting that Shreyas should not have been in the side altogether. Not just because India are trying to move away from anchors, but also because his record is nothing to shout home about. Some even ask what the team management has seen in him that they have shown such persistence.

As the 17th over dawns, these murmurs morph into clamours of discontent. Shreyas, at this stage, has crawled to 11 off 10 balls and seems to be completely out of rhythm. Maybe the crowd, who have seen him struggle previously in the IPL have been right all along.

Shreyas Iyer clicked into gear against Sri Lanka at Lucknow

And then, all of a sudden, something clicks for the current Kolkata Knight Riders captain. He walks across his stumps, whips the ball deliciously off his pads and injects impetus into his and the Indian team’s essay.

Post that, he unleashes a merciless attack on Chamika Karunaratne and Dushmantha Chameera – an assault that propels him to 57 off 28 balls, which roughly equates to a strike rate of more than 200.

The innings, apart from taking the game beyond Sri Lanka, is also an illustration of why India don’t want to push Shreyas into the periphery. The Men In Blue comfortably win that game but as soon as the dust settles, a question, rather unerringly, keeps popping up - where does Shreyas fit into India’s T20I fast lane?

Ever since the 2021 T20 World Cup debacle, India have been reluctant to play too many anchors in their side. When each of their first-choice players are available, the guess is that KL Rahul and Kohli waltz into the side. Both can bat aggressively but primarily function as stabilizers – a role that Shreyas plays too.

Given his career T20 record, it seems that the former DC captain is best suited to bat at No.3. He has batted at that slot 47 times and has accumulated 1327 runs at an average of 33.17 and a relatively healthy strike rate of 126.74.

At No.4, his average and strike rate improve. In 30 innings, he has scored 893 runs at an average of 37.2 and a strike rate of 130.55. When shunted further down the order, though, his numbers take a dip. At No.5, he averages 29 and strikes at a tick under 121, whereas at No.6, he strikes at 136.26 but only averages 18.75.

So, a case could be made for Shreyas to feature in the top four and replace one of Kohli or Rahul. The bigger quandary, though, is whether he has done enough to overtake either, who lest we forget, have churned out runs for India whenever required.

With those spots not really being up for grabs, the attention shifts to whether Shreyas can produce the goods as a finisher. Prima facie, it seems that he has all the shots and has the tactical flexibility to keep bowlers guessing. But as his numbers indicate, it isn’t something he is accustomed to and is certainly something that he doesn’t fancy as much.

By virtue of those yardsticks, it seems that a simple supply-demand analysis clips Shreyas’ potential wings in T20I cricket. At the top, where he is most successful, India have quite a lot of alternatives. Lower down, where India might have the odd vacancy, he doesn’t really fit.

When talking about a batter of his class, though, the answer is a touch complicated. Shreyas has, over the years, shown a tendency to perform in whatever little opportunities he has been accorded. At times, it hasn’t been in roles that he relishes but he has still managed to find a way – much like it happened at Lucknow.

A few months ago, he was thrust into the deep end during the home series against New Zealand. He barely flinched and was one of the primary reasons India drew the 1st Test at Kanpur.

Furthermore, the pedigree of his batting can’t be doubted. If anything, he is one of the more elegant batters on the planet and can tackle almost every obstacle thrown at him. If he can do it at a tempo that is requisite for T20 cricket is another matter altogether.

Yet, if India find themselves in a fix, they might secretly hope that Shreyas is around to save the day. He is, simply put, a Rolls Royce in India’s T20I fast lane – a bit out of place but always dependable in tumultuous situations.

Which brings us to addressing the elephant in the room again. The former DC skipper has all the tools to be successful and has all the shots to draw collective gasps of awe. He doesn’t quite have the power game as some of his peers and that, as things stand, could be the difference between a permanent starting berth and a peripheral role.

At the moment, he is perilously close to becoming a regular fixture in the Indian side. But he is equally close to becoming one of India’s so-near-yet-so-far cricketers in the shortest format. However, that is just how his career has been – a career where he has had to repeatedly remind people of his brilliance and undeniable class.

So far, he has made a pretty decent fist of it, and has portrayed that he can step out of his comfort zone and be what India require him to be. An answer around his suitability to this T20I setup, though, isn’t any closer than it was prior to his masterclass at Lucknow.

That alone tells you the magnitude of this particular conundrum facing the Indian team. And how a solution can be more complicated than it might seem.