It was difficult to get the eyes off Shreyas Iyer when the India D captain walked out to bat in a Duleep Trophy match against India A in Anantapur on Friday. Generally, Iyer does attract a lot of attention whenever he is at the crease, mainly due to his ability to take the game away from the opposition but on Day 2 of the second-round of Duleep Trophy, it was more because of his gears.

Iyer made his way into the crease, wearing sunglasses. Yes, you read that right. While cricketers fielding with their shades on is a regularity, some spinners have even preferred to bowl wearing them but very few have dared to bat like that. It was probably the first time for even Iyer, who has rarely been seen wearing sunglasses while batting in international cricket and in the IPL.

But Friday was different. Iyer, with a touch of swagger that comes naturally to him, took his guard with the sun reflecting from his shades. It was enough to grab the attention of the commentators. "Is it that bright to wear sunglasses?" asked former India cricketer and a current member of the Cricket Advisory Committee, Ashok Malhotra.

"I think it is quite bright," said former India leg-spinner, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan in a sarcastic tone. The discussion continued long after Iyer was dismissed. It didn't help that his stay in the middle was only for seven balls. He was for a duck after getting caught at mid-on while failing to control an uppish on-drive off Khaleel Ahmed.

"Some players prefer to field with sunglasses on, some don't. I guess, it's an individual choice," said former India opener WV Raman.

Shreyas Iyer's dry run

Sunglasses or not, Iyer would not pleased with his performance in the Dulee Trophy so far. He did score a quickfire in the second innings of the previous match against India C but he failed to get going in the first innings. He was out for 9, flashing at a wide one in Anantapur.

In the second match at the same venue, where the pitch was far better than the previous one, Iyer got out to a forgettable shot.

Even though, Iyer led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title in May, his batting form has not been that great of late. He had an okayish season, scoring 351 runs in 14 outings, which was not enough to get him a spot in the Indian side for the T20 World Cup.

In his return to the ODI setup, Iyer registered scores of 23, 7 and 8 in Sri Lanka. His struggle against the Sri Lankan spinners was a surprise for many.

Considered as India's specialist middle-order batter in Test matches at home even till the England series earlier this year, Iyer did not a find a place in the 16-member squad for the first Test against Bangladesh.

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