Shreyas Iyer played a pivotal role in India's run to the 2023 ODI World Cup final, having emerged as the third-highest run-getter in the side after Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma, and putting on the best-ever show by a No. 4 batter for India in any World Cup edition. In 11 matches for the home team, Iyer smashed 530 runs at 66.25 with three fifties and two tons.

However, after the World Cup, Iyer endured a difficult phase in his career, where he not only struggled with back injury issues but also lost his rhythm in the longest format of the game, as evidenced by his string of poor scores in the South Africa tour and home series against England. Iyer was eventually dropped from the Test team, following which he reportedly took a break to recover from an injury concern before returning to action in Ranji Trophy cricket. Amid his return, he was also overlooked for a central contract by the BCCI.

Speaking to the media ahead of the IPL 2024 final, where Iyer will be leading Kolkata Knight Riders with the franchise aiming for a third title, the India star admitted to struggling in the Test format, but reckoned that his focus throughout IPL was to give his best performance irrespective of the outside noise.

“I was definitely struggling after the World Cup, in terms of the longer format. When I raised my concern, no one was agreeing to it. But at the sane time the competition is with myself. When IPL was approaching, all I wanted to see to it that I can put my best foot forward and whatever planning or strategising we did before, we executed it to the best of our abilities. The transformation from red-ball cricket to white-ball is difficult as a batsman, but once you get used to it, you match with the other teams,” he said.

Iyer is all set to join mentor Gautam Gambhir in becoming the second KKR captain to lead the side to IPL glory. Gambhir lifted the title twice for Kolkata in 2012 and 2014.

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