In an interview on The Grade Cricketer podcast, India batsman Shreyas Iyer said that he always felt he could have made it to the Indian team “way earlier” than he eventually did.

Iyer, currently nursing a shoulder injury, has his focus on the T20 World Cup that will closely follow the remainder of IPL 2021, with him being a key part of India’s limited-overs plans now. That was always not the case, though, with his selection in 2017 coming on the back of consistent performances across formats in the preceding two years.

Iyer famously slammed a double hundred in a first-class game against the visiting Australian side in 2017, taking on the likes of Nathan Lyon and Steven O’Keefe in the tour game, right before the very same duo bundled India out in the Pune Test.

Later that year, Iyer was handed his T20I cap, also earning an ODI call-up a month later. He is yet to make his Test debut for the Indian side. Iyer had a stellar start to his List A career for Mumbai, notching up scores of 59, 105* and 77 in his debut month. He was helped by a promising 140 against South Africa A in August 2017, effectively sealing his selection in the limited-overs side.

The 26-year-old stated on the podcast that he felt his selection to the Indian team could have come earlier.

“I’ve always felt that I should have been on the team way earlier. But right now, I feel that I’ve really sorted my mindset. The selection point of view is not in my hands – my job is to score runs and go out there and perform while entertaining people and that’s all I think about when stepping onto the cricket field. That sort of mindset has helped me: [to] get away from envying others and feeling bad about myself. I have grown from that point of view. Whenever I think about selection, I know I am going to be there because I have performed,” Iyer said.

Iyer, who suffered a shoulder injury during the home series against England, stated that the “healing process has been done” and that he will be ready to return for the second leg of IPL 2021 in UAE later this year, although he wasn’t certain of returning as captain

“That’s going to take about a month [recovery] and the training is obviously going on,” Iyer said. “I’ll be there in the IPL but I don’t know about the captaincy [at Delhi Capitals]. But the team is already doing well and at the top. My main goal is to lift the trophy which Delhi has never done before.”

Rishabh Pant led the Delhi side in Iyer’s absence and at the time the tournament was called off, Delhi were table toppers with six wins in eight games.

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