"Always In Good Form": 6-Time IPL Winner Slams Shreyas Iyer's Critics, Defends India Captain After 23-Ball 50

Former India cricketer Ambati Rayudu shut down any criticism over India's current T20I captain Shreyas Iyer after the latter smashed a 23-ball 50 in the fifth T20I against New Zealand on Sunday. Shreyas walked into bat in just the fourth over, with India reeling at 19/2 after the dismissals of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson. However, the Indian captain led the fightback with a counter-attacking knock, stitching a fiery 93-run partnership with Ishan Kishan in just 43 balls. Rayudu took the opportunity to heap praise on Shreyas.

The Indian captain hasn't always been free from criticism, with question marks at times being raised over his strike-rate and explosiveness.

"He has always been in good form. When people doubt someone like Shreyas Iyer, it's pretty laughable, because whenever he bats, he is a match-winner," Rayudu said, speaking on Cricbuzz, as quoted by Sportskeeda.

"He just takes the premier bowlers on, it is not like he is stitching up an innings where he is struggling and then he goes about hitting a few boundaries. He just dominates the innings, he controls the innings, so he is a fantastic, fantastic batter," Rayudu, a six-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winner, added.

Since hitting a magnificent 43-ball 102* in India's first T20I against West Indies in October, Shreyas had gone eight consecutive games without a fifty-plus score. That streak came to an end on Sunday, as he blazed four sixes and three boundaries en route to his half-century.

Overall, it was his fourth fifty-plus score since taking over as India's T20I captain following IPL 2026.

Unfortunately for Shreyas, he was unable to prevent India from losing a second consecutive T20I against New Zealand, as the hosts chased down a target of 192 with two full overs to spare.

However, Shreyas had wrapped up the series win by the third T20I of the five-match series.

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