Speaking with Cribuzz in a cricket series named Spicy Pitch, Santosh Iyer, father of Shreyas Iyer shared stories on his son, who is now a regular feature in India’s ODI & T 20 teams, batting at number four. Iyer’s father explains how Shreyas went through difficult times.

Shreyas Iyer has played very well since becoming a first-team regular in the Indian team. The middle-order batsmen has accumulated 748 runs in 18 ODIs with an average close to 50. The young player already has one hundred and eight half-centuries in international cricket to his name. In 22 T20Is, he has 417 runs at an average of 27 plus with an impressive strike rate nearing 130. Santosh reveals when he felt and started to believe in his son’s talent.

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“When Shreyas was 4 years old, we played cricket in the house with a plastic ball. Even then, he was middling the ball in a manner that convinced me that the boy had real talent. So, we did everything in our power to make sure he can fulfill his potential,” Santosh Iyer said.

Santosh recalls the time when he was worried about his son’s batting. Speaking about Iyer’s U-16 Mumbai days, Santosh says that his son was in a rough patch in poor form and one of his coaches has factored in lack of focus as a major reason for poor batting.

“When one coach told me that your son has talent, but he has lost focus along the way, I got a little worried. I thought he has either fallen in love or got mixed up in the wrong crowd!”, Santosh Iyer said.

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Santosh Iyer understood that  Shreyas who was very young at just 16 years old needed some help and counseling. Rather than scolding the player when fell into a rough patch in his junior days, Santosh Iyer decided to do something very few parents choose to do, take their son to a sports psychologist. This was all before mental health was given as much importance as it has right now.

“Eventually, I was told that there was nothing to worry. Like most other cricketers, Shreyas was simply going through a rough patch. And sure enough, he soon recovered his form and has never looked back,” Santosh said.