"Happy Birthday, the future captain of India"- Shreyas Iyer receives special wishes as he turns 29
Members of the cricketing fraternity and fans extended warm wishes to Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer as he turned 29 on Wednesday, December 6. He was last seen on the field on Sunday when India squared off in a T20I match against Australia in Bengaluru.
Iyer missed IPL2023, WTC final, and a couple of other bilateral series this year due to a back injury he suffered during the BGT series in March. He made a comeback in the Asia Cup and has been a pillar for India in the middle-order ever since.
Shreyas Iyer was stellar with bat in the 2023 World Cup and played a crucial role in the batting department. He amassed 530 runs batting at No. 4 across 11 games at an average of 66.25, including two centuries and three fifties.
On the occasion of his 29th birthday on Wednesday, members of the cricketing fraternity and fans were quick to wish Shreyas on social media. his KKR teammate Nitish Rana led the way with a post on X.
Here are some of the wishes:
Shreyas Iyer made his T20I comeback during the last two games in recently concluded series vs Australia
Shreyas Iyer made his comeback in the T20I format after a long time during the recently concluded five-match series against Australia. He was rested for the first three games due to its proximity to the 2023 World Cup final, allowing him some downtime amidst a hectic schedule.
He could not do much in the fourth T20I as he got out for 8 (7) Raipur last Friday. However, Iyer found his range soon and played a match-defining knock of 53 (37) on a tricky surface to help India reach a defendable total.
Shreyas reflected on his knock and India's win, saying on Jio Cinema:
“My mindset was to go boom boom, but when I saw three wickets falling, my mind started calculating. It wasn't an easy wicket to bat on. I feel 160 was the right total, which we got eventually. To defend it was a brilliant performance from the team.”
He added:
“I'm elated to be honest to see everyone chipping in and contributing for the team. The shots, innovation has been on point and I could see Arshdeep's [Singh] calmness when he was bowling the last over.”
Shreyas Iyer will be back in action on December 10 when India kicks off their South Africa tour with the first T20I at the Kingsmead, Durban.