"Lost The Battle, Not The War" - Inside Shreyas Iyer's Mind Of Steel

Aashay Chopade

Shreyas Iyer for Punjab Kings in IPL 2025 (Source: @96ShreyasIyer/X.com)Shreyas Iyer for Punjab Kings in IPL 2025 (Source: @96ShreyasIyer/X.com)

"We have lost the battle, but not the war" - This was Shreyas Iyer's declaration after a humiliating loss in the Qualifier 1 of IPL 2025. The fact that he is leading a franchise that has been a perennial underachiever in the league and qualified for the playoffs the first time since 2014 speaks a lot about Shreyas Iyer's never-say-die attitude.

This winning mentality and resilience has been the hallmark of Shreyas Iyer's cricket career so far. The batter has faced various setbacks right throughout his career, one of them being the omission from the central contract after a stellar show in the 2023 World Cup. He has also not found himself on the right side of the selection spectrum as often as he would have liked to, but the man has fought his way back each and every time.

A Floating Captain Creating His Leadership Aura

In IPL too, the journey and growth of Shreyas Iyer, the batter and more importantly the leader has been pretty interesting. He made a rollicking start to his career for DC, and was handed captaincy midway during the 2018 season by Gautam Gambhir. In the very next season, he took DC to the playoffs as captain after six long seasons and in the following edition they played the final. Interestingly, DC decided to make Rishabh Pant their full-time captain and Shreyas had to shift his base to KKR.

The charming leader from Mumbai then took KKR to a title win after 10 years, but the franchise released him. A move that surprised everyone and it was the first time a franchise was releasing its title winning captain in the very next season. It seemed unfair on Shreyas, however, that has been the story of Shreyas Iyer's cricket career so far, and like always, he has come back stronger.

All these years, Shreyas somehow has always flown under the radar despite numerous achievements. In this season for Punjab Kings though, all that toughness from setbacks, those learnings from failures have been evident in his leadership and batting. Shreyas' inspired leadership played a big role in Punjab Kings defending the lowest-ever target in IPL history, and then, in a must-win battle against mighty Mumbai Indians, the captain decided to bat like he was doing it for his life. 

Bat For Life Or Lose The War!

On May 29, he said they have not lost the war, and on June 1-2, he made sure that the warrior mindset reflected on the field. The pressure was insane, Mumbai Indians, the five-time IPL winning team had never lost while defending a target of over 200. Shreyas Iyer though had other plans; the fire in his eyes and world class skills did now allow him to back down.

The batter found ways to hit boundaries every time when things were getting tricky for Punjab Kings. He also tackled the might of Jasprit Bumrah's 'Untouchable Yorker' with a shot that defines Shreyas Iyer - Smart, Calm And Hunger To Tackle Adversities. 

Thus, he has kept the dream of winning the war alive. His team would now go up against RCB, a team that demolished them just a few days ago. For Shreyas though, winning IPL is no less than a war, and the most important thing in a war is to hit the enemy where it hurts them the most. Thus, expect Shreyas Iyer to come out with that knockout punch and create history at the biggest cricket ground in the world.