Former England captain Michael Vaughan expressed his astonishment while watching Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer's impressive performance against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday in Ahmedabad, particularly noting that the Indian star is not even included in the national T20 team. Iyer delivered a remarkable unbeaten innings of 97 runs off 42 balls, leading Punjab to victory by 11 runs in their season opener.

Priyansh Arya, who was making his debut for Punjab, provided an explosive start with a quickfire 47 runs off just 23 balls, but it was Shreyas Iyer who dominated the match at the Narendra Modi Stadium. He struck five fours and nine sixes, contributing to Punjab's formidable total of 243 for five.

Notably, Iyer chose to forgo the chance to achieve his first T20 century. Despite being on the verge of the milestone and having led Punjab's innings for the majority of the match, he instructed Shashank Singh to attack all six deliveries in the final over against Mohammed Siraj. Singh responded by hitting five boundaries in that over, further solidifying Punjab's substantial target.

'Shreyas Iyer is not in the Indian T20I team'

Speaking to Cricbuzz after the match, Vaughan was in absolute awe of Iyer's knock, before he realised that he was not even part of the Indian T20I side despite his batting prowess.

"It was brilliant. It really was from the first ball when he punched it down the ground. He makes sixes look very easy, and it's certainly not. And I liked his flicks off the hip to the short ball. But the way he strikes down the ground off the spinners and the one over extra cover, he just gives himself a little bit of space and hits through the line just outside of the off stump. He's a brilliant player. I just keep scratching my head and thinking he's not in the Indian T20I team," he said.

However, Vaughan added that Iyer's inability to break into the Indian T20I team outlines the level of competition and warned the rest of the world to catch up before the two upcoming ICC tournaments—the T20 World Cup 2026 and the ODI World Cup 2027.

"It's a real worry for the rest of the world that you know this Indian juggernaut. They've won the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, and the final of the 50-over World Cup. He played brilliantly in the 50-over World Cup. Just had a little bit of an off day in the final. Where is the next T20 World Cup? It's in Sri Lanka. Then, the next 50-over World Cup in South Africa. I've just watched the T20 tournament in South Africa. Lots of spin, lots of slow wickets. So, it will not be any different for the 50-over World Cup. The rest of the world has got to catch up, and I don't know how, I don't know how they're going to do because this Indian juggernaut has a mass of players, and I reckon you've got 30 odd players that you could choose from. Iyer is right up near the top of that," he said.

Read Also: Sourav Ganguly urges Gautam Gambhir to address Shreyas Iyer's ongoing exclusions from Test and T20I teams: 'He is prepared for every format'

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