Shreyas Iyer has been receiving praise from all quarters. With just 3 required for a well-deserved hundred and with 6 deliveries left, Shreyas Iyer, chose to allow his batting partner to score runs and not worry about his hundred. This was a wonderful gesture on the part of the captain. This is much needed in Indian cricket which is littered with batsmen slowing down considerably when insight of a milestone. What makes Iyer’s decision even more curious is the fact that he is also from Mumbai, a city that is famous for producing a lot of batsmen but at the sametime, notorious of producing batsmen who are on the lookout for milestone. Shreyas Iyer and the hundred.
Iyer was on 97, already past his highest IPL score, when Mohammed Siraj came to bowl the last over of the PBKS innings with Shashank on strike. Shashank, hit the first delivery by Siraj for a four, then took 2 runs, then hit two consecutive fours before Siraj bowled a wide and then Shashank hit the last two deliveries of the over for two more fours, leaving Iyer stranded on 97, without getting a strike in the last over.
Eversince his return to the Indian ODI team, Shreyas seems to have been transformed himself. It still is not clear whether he has overcome his inability against the short-ball though he negotiated the fast bowlers at Dubai quite well. Those pitches were slow and low and as such, they cannot be a measure of his ability or otherwise. A slightly bouncier pitch is needed to confirm whether Shreyas has indeed overcome the short-ball syndrome. Nevertheless, the attitude in this case is what matters. This is a welcome attitude which augurs well for the Indian cricket team.
The reaction of the fans
Shreyas Iyer was praised and rightly so for his attitude but at the sametime, the fans criticised Kohli and Dhoni for playing for their milestone. I am not at all bothered about IPL. It is while playing for the nation, one must forego individual milestone and play for the nation. The fans have attributed some of Kohli and Dhoni’s knocks in the IPL when they favoured hundred and fifty respectively more than the team score. I care less about that. However, I don’t think that Dhoni for all his faults, ever played for any milestone. Yes, he was adamant to take every ODI game right to the end but that cannot be construed as playing for himself. As for Kohli, he was similar until two years ago when hundreds became important for him.
The MS Dhoni unhealthy infatuation
The fans of CSK have become quite toxic. Everyone know that Dhoni at the age of 42, is not really fit to play the game. Yet, he continues to play in every IPL for CSK. The CSK fans are the primary culprits. The unhealthy obsession with one man is ridiculous. It is because of these supporters Dhoni, though he is a pale shadow of his former self, continues to turnout for CSK despite limited performances. Ashwin said, “When MS Dhoni came out to bat in Chennai, there was so much noise and chaos that we forgot the situation of the game altogether. MS Dhoni has earned the love. It was for the first time I was seeing that reception from the CSK dressing room, I always saw it from the outside,” Ashwin said on his Youtube channel.
Dhoni is the only brand that sells for CSK. Minus Dhoni, I doubt whether CSK will have so many followers. The franchise is probably unwilling to let him go. Dhoni seems to have been caught in a vicious cycle. However, I wonder why Dhoni, who has earned for several generations, still continue to play in the IPL? One cannot help but suspect some kind of a threat to him if he chooses to retire. The fault for both Dhoni playing and Dhoni not retiring lies with the supporters.
So long as this dangerous obsession with one man continues, superstar culture will continue to prevail in this country.
Wrapping up Shreyas Iyer and the hundred
On the one hand, we have a Shreyas Iyer, who has the right attitude of playing the game at the highest level and on the otherhand, we have the example of the obtrusive cricket fanatics who are ruining everything in this country. Such hero worship will only result in less respect for national games and more IPl schedule. One can only hope that better sense will prevail at the earliest. Let us wait and watch.
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