During a net session in Dubai ahead of the Champions Trophy, Shreyas Iyer was reduced to tears. His batting didn’t go well, and when he asked for a bit of extra time, it wasn’t granted. Frustrated with himself, the emotions overwhelmed him—what followed was a rare and raw moment of vulnerability.
Now busy with the IPL, Shreyas, who was signed for ₹26.75 crore and is currently leading Punjab Kings, recently opened up about the incident during the franchise’s digital show ‘Candid With Kings.’ When asked, “When was the last time you cried?” the 30-year-old batter revealed that it hadn’t been long ago.
“The last time I cried was during the Champions Trophy, at the first practice session. I was literally crying and crying. I had just come back from batting in the nets, and it hadn’t gone well. I was so angry at myself that tears started rolling down my eyes. I was shocked too, because I don’t cry easily,” he said.
The fact that a bad net session brought him to tears was surprising, even to him. But Shreyas gave more context to what led to that emotional outburst. Going into the Champions Trophy, he was in red-hot form—scoring 59 off 36, 44 off 47, and 78 off 64 in a three-match ODI series against England.
Adjusting to the slow, tricky wickets in Dubai, a stark contrast from the batting-friendly tracks back home, proved difficult at first.
“I performed well in the England series and thought I could carry that rhythm forward. But the wicket there was different, and adapting on the first day was really tough. After the session, I wanted to bat a little more, but I didn’t get the chance. That made me really angry,” he explained.
“The next day, I told myself in the nets, ‘I will do well.’ That’s important. What we show on the field is one thing, but the work behind the scenes matters even more. If you’re 100% confident off the field, that naturally reflects in your performance on it,” he added.
The rest, as they say, is history. Shreyas went on to be India’s best batter in the tournament, scoring 243 runs at an average of 48.60—second highest in the entire tournament, and the highest for India.
