The Silent Killer

The captain of the winning IPL team, the Kolkata Knight Riders. A key ingredient in India's credible performance in the 2023 ICC World Cup. Shreyas lyer's established himself as a formidable player on a national scale. But at 29, the cricketer, in his most personal chat yet, tells us that he's only just getting started

- SHIVANGI LOLAYEKAR

You'd think that putting Shreyas lyer on the Man's World cover right now would be counterintuitive. The 29-year-old cricketer is back home as the national squad battles it out for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in the United States and the West Indies. And there's been no shortage of chatter surrounding lyer's absence. But once you objectively take into account the spectacular year he's had so far, and in lyer's words, "silenced the haters," it's mind-boggling how the primo cricketer's being allowed to "relax" presently. Iyer was the third-highest run scorer (post Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma) for India in the ICC World Cup, and 7th in the whole tournament, with a commendable strike rate of a 113. Most recently and stunningly, he captained the Kolkata Knight Riders to victory in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League-marking his return to the most entertaining and fast-moving format of the sport, post a gruesome back injury that saw him skip the previous season. Make note, this wasn't the first time that lyer had led the charge. In 2020, he had steered his previous team, the Delhi Capitals, to their first IPL final. All indicative of the superior cricketer's prowess to show who's boss.