Shreyas Iyer has been performing consistently at the highest level and has emerged as a vital cog in India’s limited-overs side. In fact, it seems like the Mumbai-born star has also ended India’s search for a number-four batsman in white-ball cricket. Before thriving in international cricket, however, there was a time when Iyer was struggling to get runs due to which his father Santosh took him to a sports psychologist. Shreyas Iyer Plays Rock Paper Scissors With His ‘Twin’ Amid COVID-19 Lockdown (Watch Video).

While featuring in Cricbuzz's show 'Spicy Pitch,' the Senior Iyer revealed that his son was going through a rough patch in junior cricket when he was 16-years old. It was when Iyer was playing Mumbai-U16 team and one of the coaches blamed the batsman for his lack of focus which worried his father. "When one coach told me that your son has talent, but he has lost focus along the way, I got a little worried. I thought he has either fallen in love or got mixed up in the wrong crowd (bad company),” said Shreyas’ father during the show.

Well, Santosh’s decision of taking his son to a sports psychologist was certainly appreciable as mental health wasn’t given much importance a decade ago. However, instead of scolding or admonishing the batsman, Santosh decided to get him counselling. Nevertheless, Santosh was told that his son was going through normal bad form and there isn’t a great reason to worry.

"Eventually, I was told that there was nothing to worry. Like most other cricketers, Shreyas was simply going through a rough patch. And sure enough, he soon recovered his form and has never looked back," added Iyer’s father.

To date, Iyer has represented the Men in Blue in 18 ODIs and 21 T20Is, in which he accumulated 748 and 417 runs. His next assignment is scheduled to get underway with the start of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 where he leads Delhi Capitals. However, dark clouds are looming over the start of the tournament and according to many reports, the gala T20 tournament is set to get called off.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 14, 2020 09:39 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).