'I Won't Be Surprised If He Becomes India's Captain': Robin Uthappa On Shreyas Iyer's Potential Ahead Of WC Semi-Final

India’s batting order has been as reliable as ever this World Cup. Skipper Rohit Sharma never fails to set the tone for the innings with his aggressive displays, Shubman Gill supports his skipper with sensible batting on the other end, and if all fails, talisman batter Virat Kohli, who has been in sublime form, comes in to showcase to the world why he truly is one of the best ever to do it.

But, for a little while, there was one gaping hole in the batting order, the No.4 spot. With Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul already having to compete for the wicket-keeping duties, followed by the absence of a swashbuckling Rishabh Pant who may have provided some much needed explosiveness to the order, the responsibility has often times fallen on Shreyas Iyer.

Iyer had a rough start to his WC campaign this year, starting off with a duck against five-time champions Australia. And over the next five innings as well, his form was subpar. He mustered one undefeated fifty against Pakistan at Ahmedabad, but this was followed by three more disappointing innings.

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The naysayers had almost written off Iyer, calling out his inability to play the short ball and were imploring the team to try out other options.

But, head coach Rahul Dravid maintained his faith in the youngster, and repay the faith he did.

Iyer went on a rampage over the next three matches, scoring two half-centuries and an undefeated 128* off 94 balls in India’s final group stage match against Netherlands, to stake his claim in the team.

Upon witnessing the rise of Iyer, Robin Uthappa has made a big claim saying that Shreyas Iyer could become the future white-ball captain of the Indian team if he is able to continue his fine form batting at number four.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Uthappa praised Iyer and said that he had put in a lot of hard work to work on his inability to face the short-ball and has now staked his claim at the No.4 spot.

Uthappa was not alone in his train of thought, as former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has also pointed out that Iyer was no longer getting exposed against bouncers, a testament to the adjustments he has made to his technique. Kaif emphasized Iyer’s importance to the team, especially in the high-pressure semi-final clash against New Zealand.

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Uthappa then followed it up by stating that if Iyer continues his fine form, then he wouldn’t be surprised to see him become the captain of the Indian side, especially in white-ball cricket.

“Whatever was said about his issues with the short ball, he has shown he has put in a lot of hard work and he seems to be confident as well. He looks very very good. He looks very good at No.4. If he continues to perform this way, I won’t be surprised if he becomes the captain of the Indian side. Especially in white-ball cricket,” said Uthappa.

Now, in total, Iyer has scored more than 400 runs in the ongoing tournament, the highest by an Indian middle-order batter in World Cup history. And the stakes have never been higher than today as India takes on New Zealand in what can be viewed as a replay of the 2019 World Cup semi-final again in 2023.