Shreyas Iyer opens up on not getting selected for Australia tour

India’s hunt for the number four slot is no new story and one of the players who did get a shot at that position is Shreyas Iyer. Although his performances were not that bad, the selectors looked beyond him and tried out some other alternatives like Ajinkya Rahane, and Ambati Rayudu.

Shreyas Iyer has been scoring a lot of runs in the domestic circuit and on Saturday, he registered a blistering 148 in the final of the Deodhar Trophy. Despite all his efforts, he didn’t get selected in any of the squads announced for the Australia tour. Talking about that, he seemed quite calm and relaxed as he just wants to keep scoring runs and think about nothing else.

He also compared how a lot of footballers don’t get selected for the World Cup despite performing very well at the club level. A classic example was of Mauro Icardi, who scored tons of goals for Inter Milan in the Italian League last season, but failed to make it to the Argentine World Cup squad this year.

“It’s not just cricket but even football and other sports, if you see, there also we find breakdowns (heartbreaks). You can find a lot of top footballers not being selected for World Cup despite performing for their clubs. All these small, small things matter and helped me focus on what I am doing at the present,” Iyer said on Saturday as quoted by Times Now.

“I have realised that it’s not only me but there are a lot of other players also who are not being selected. So I can see their frustration as well at the same time and I think it’s just part and parcel of every sportsman’s life. They all go through it,” he added.

I am in the scheme of things: Iyer

The Mumbai batsman also talked about how the selection matters used to play in his mind often and how he got over it. He reckons he is certainly in contention for selection in the coming months and is choosing to be optimistic about his chances.

“I have been playing matches continuously. So I just go match by match as selection is not in my hands. My job is to keep scoring runs and I am lately focusing on that only. Earlier, selection matters used to really play on my mind. Now I have just forgot those things and focusing on things that are necessary.

If you play a good knock over here, you are recognised and selectors have eyes on you and I am in the scheme of things. On and off, it doesn’t really matter as you play cricket for passion,” said the 23-year-old.

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