SUPER STRIKER SHREYAS

Shreyas lyer is one of world cricket's biggest stars. Is the national team finally ready to embrace his supreme talents?

- BY CHE KURRIEN PHOTOGRAPHS BY MANASI SAWANT STYLED BY OJAS KOLVANKAR

The panoramic view from Shreyas Iyer's 48th-floor apartment atop a gleaming tower in Lower Parel is the perfect perch to view Mumbai's physical contradictions.

“On this side, it looks like Chicago,” he says, gesturing towards the sea and the skyscrapers that abut it, reminiscent of Lake Shore Drive. “But just over here,” he says with a laugh, “it looks like Mumbai!” pointing to the gritty, derelict mills and industrial warehouses that formed the city's economic backbone in the 1970s. Iyer bought this commodious apartment during the Covid-19 pandemic, moving out from his parents' modest flat in neighbouring Worli, which his Tamilian grandfather paid ₹500 for—the beneficiary of a middle-income housing lottery scheme. It is in that flat that Iyer's father, Santosh, was raised.

Iyer has just returned home from Barcelona. While in the buzzing Catalan capital, he met Carlos Alcaraz, the day after the Spaniard lost the Wimbledon final to Jannik Sinner in four hypnotic sets. The short meeting was facilitated by Nike, with whom both athletes have a relationship. “Nike also offered to take me to Wimbledon... but I decided to stay away. It looked like the whole of India was in London this year!” he chortles. At this year's tournament, Indian attendance, especially among past and current cricketers, was at an all-time high. The roll-call at Centre Court included Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. Further, several members of the Indian Test team, like Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah, who were touring England at the time, were seen at the hallowed greens.