The role of a parent is indispensable in any success story. There have been several stories of struggle of cricketers who were constantly backed by their parents, such that their offsprings reach unscaled heights in international cricket.
This is a story of Shreyas Iyer’s father who went to every length to ensure that his son got the success he deserved.
Moreover, the Mumbai cricketer went through a turbulent time at a tender age, during his dip in performance in the U-16 days.
His father, however, decided not to give up and called all his son’s coaches and mentors to figure out what was going wrong.
“When Shreyas was four years old, we played cricket in the house with a plastic ball. Even then, he was middling the ball in the way that convinced me that the boy had real talent. So, we did everything in our power to make sure he can fulfil his potential,” Shreyas’ father, Santosh Iyer said.
“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’s either fallen in love or got mixed up in the wrong crowd!” Santosh added.
At a time when mental health awareness was deficient, Santosh decided to do the right thing. Instead of cracking down on his son and giving him a pep-talk, he took Shreyas to a sports psychologist.
The psychologist spent a lot of time with the budding cricketer. “Eventually she told me that I was worrying for nothing. 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,” senior Iyer concluded.
