"My phone has been buzzing" - Scott Styris on his comments about Shreyas Iyer's chances of being Team India's future captain

Shreyas Iyer has been amongst the runs in both ODIs against the West Indies [P/C: Twitter]

Scott Styris has disclosed that his phone has been buzzing since he spoke about Shreyas Iyer being a future captaincy candidate for Team India.

Shreyas has been at his consistent best in the ongoing ODI series against the West Indies, having scored half-centuries in the two games played thus far. Styris recently proclaimed that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper has all the qualities to lead the Men in Blue as well.

During an interaction on the Sports 18 show 'Sports Over the Top', Styris was asked about the important roles played by Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson in the second ODI against the Windies. He replied:

"I can tell you one thing, I have got my own manual Google alerts. My phone has been buzzing with my comments on Shreyas Iyer a couple of days ago where I said he is a future captain for India."

Styris pointed out that Shreyas can play a leadership role within Team India even if he is not officially the captain. The former New Zealand all-rounder explained:

"It's performances like this that not only will show his leadership qualities, but I also think will show his leadership in the group. He may not be captain but he has the ability to be a real leader through not only his actions but the way that he carries himself in a team environment as well."

Vice-Captain continues to make impact in this series, consecutive fifties for Shreyas Iyer.
https://t.co/1orpej8tz0

Shreyas was considered a future captaincy candidate for Team India a year or so back. However, his travails against the short ball coupled with injuries have resulted in him falling behind the likes of KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya in that race.

"He will be disappointed he didn't go on and make it a bigger number" - Scott Styris on Shreyas Iyer's knock in the 2nd ODI

Shreyas Iyer scored 63 runs off 71 deliveries in the second ODI against West Indies

While acknowledging that Shreyas will be disappointed about not converting his knock in the second ODI against the Windies into a more substantial effort, Styris concluded by highlighting the importance of his partnership with Samson. The cricketer-turned-analyst said:

"That was a sensational innings. I think he will be disappointed he didn't go on and make it a bigger number. But I think just exactly what India needed. As I said, they were a little bit slow to start with but he got the momentum going with Sanju Samson."

Performance of Shreyas Iyer against West Indies in ODI:

71(68) in 2019
65(41) in 2019
70(88) in 2019
53(32) in 2019
7(7) in 2019
80(111) in 2022
54(57) in 2022
63(71) in 2022

He will be looking to double up this fifty into a hundred in the 3rd ODI.

#IndvWI

Shreyas and Samson added 99 runs for the fourth wicket when the Men in Blue were reduced to 79/3 in pursuit of a 312-run target. Axar Patel (64* off 35 balls) eventually took the visitors across the line after all their frontline batters had been dismissed.