Shreyas Iyer has a sequence of 50, 69* and 66 in his last three innings in IPL 2026. He is oof the reasons Punjab Kings (PBKS), last season’s losing finalists, are at the top of the points table at this stage with four wins and a washout. After his latest big innings, Aaron Finch seemed to run out of words to praise Iyer – “it staggers me when you watch how good he is” – and the talk turned to the fact that Iyer hasn’t played T20I cricket since December 2023 and is only an ODI player for India.
“He hadn’t played any T20 in between IPLs, and he’s just started off like a house on fire,” Finch gushed on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show after PBKS beat Mumbai Indians (MI) with a lot to spare on Thursday night. “His leadership is unbelievable. It staggers me when you watch how good he is that he does not play more cricket for India.
“Wonderful player. Just beautiful to watch as well. Like, he doesn’t seem to overhit the ball. He plays both sides of the wicket, front foot, back foot. Now he’s really tightened up that part of his game, where you always felt as though you could bowl short and either get him out, or really control his scoring. And now he just takes it on, but he takes it on with control.”
Iyer, who captains PBKS, doesn’t get to play T20Is, but has made the IPL his playing field for a while now.
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Among 22 batters with 500-plus runs in the IPL since the start of 2025, his strike rate is the third highest behind Abhishek Sharma and his team-mate Priyansh Arya.
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His average in this period is also the third best, behind Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler.
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And only four batters have scored more runs than him in these two seasons so far.
“Over a period of time, he’s really understood his game,” Sairaj Bahutule, the PBKS spin-bowling coach, said at the press interaction after the game. “He really works hard in knowing what is working for him, what is not working for him, which are the bowlers he can target.
“And everybody, you know, sort of has their understanding of bowling that short ball to him. But he’s become so smart at it that he understands when he [the bowler] is going to bowl that, the plan the bowler has. And he’s very much ready for it. So, I think, not only his smartness, but his execution also has become very optimal.”
Part of PBKS’ recent success has also been built around their ability to structure chases. Across all T20I and T20 league cricket, they have the record of the most successful 200-plus chases in the game: ten. The next best is seven, by Australia. Three of them have come since Iyer took over as captain ahead of IPL 2025, and two this season. On Thursday, PBKS crossed the 196-run target with 21 balls in hand.
“[Iyer has] a lot of clarity and understanding the situation of the game, he tries to take the game deeper. Make sure that the chase has never been… It’s not the easiest of things, you know, when you’re chasing about 200 runs. And we’ve actually consistently done it for about 10-11 times now,” Bahutule said. “So, he’s somebody who’s aware of the situation, takes it deep, mixes it with his attacking shots, as well as understanding if there is a follow wicket also, he will make sure that you build that partnership and take it away.
Should Shreyas Iyer be in India’s T20I team?
All of that, not for the first time, leads to discussions about his place in the national team.
“You say, look at the depth that India’s got at the moment. We can’t beat the side that’s on the park. Not sure we’d beat their second side. Perhaps even the third side,” Finch said. “The way that the depth is at the moment in Indian cricket, particularly with the bat.”
Piyush Chawla, sitting alongside Finch, was convinced Iyer should be in that XI.
“Well, for me, if I’m the selector, he definitely walks in,” Chawla said. “Because he’s one of the better players in that middle order. And he has got that cricketing brain on his shoulder, he can actually lead this Indian squad. If you’re looking in future, for me, he walks in definitely.”
But India have just won the T20 World Cup, for the second time in a row. Who does Iyer walk in for?
“And that’s the part that is the unfortunate thing. You have to respect who’s in the position at the moment. They’re coming off a World Cup win,” Finch said. “It’s not as simple as just saying, yeah, he’s in great form, he comes in. It’s just an unfortunate timing for the guys that are the second rung. Respect the position that guys have got themselves into to win a World Cup.
“[But] the next one [T20 World Cup] is in Australia too, isn’t it? Yes, more than two years. That provides different conditions again. So I think you’re looking at guys who are good players not just in Indian conditions but all around the world. And particularly with some extra bounce as well. So Shreyas would definitely fall into that category.”
