Champions Trophy: India's 'silent hero' Shreyas Iyer talks about his rollercoaster ride

India's captain Rohit Sharma termed him as the 'silent hero' during the Champions Trophy triumph in Dubai on Sunday.

Shreyas Iyer played a crucial during the tournament that helped India remain unbeaten.

The 30-year-old amassed 241 runs from five matches to emerge as India's top run-getter and finished behind Rachin Ravindra, who got 263 runs as the tournament's second highest run-scorer.

It's been a rollercoaster ride for the Indian batter who saw losing his BCCI annual retainership contract in early 2024 and was going through a lean patch in Test cricket.

"Extremely satisfying," Iyer told the Times of India on his performance at the Champions Trophy. "To be honest it has been a journey and I have learnt a lot in this phase of my life where I got out of the contract after playing the 2023 ODI World Cup. I reassessed where I went wrong, what I should be doing, how well I need to focus on my fitness. I asked myself all these questions and prepared a routine and started focussing on my training and also the skills I added side by side.

"Once I got continuous matches in domestic cricket, I figured out how important fitness was for me especially when I raised my concerns at the start of the year. Overall I'm extremely happy. The way I came out of this and the way I handled the situation," he added.

Iyer also said he did not get the required recognition when he led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title last year.

Despite the success, the Kolkata-based team let him got and Iyer was bought by Punjab Kings for a whopping Rs267.5 million in the auction.

“I personally felt I didn’t get the recognition I wanted after winning the IPL but at the end of the day, as long as you have self-integrity and you keep doing the right things when no one is watching, that is more important and that is what I kept doing,” Iyer said.