Shreyas Iyer has recently been in the news for the wrong reasons. He lost his place in India's Test squad, missed some Ranji Trophy games citing back spasms when the BCCI medical staff had declared him fit, and was not given a central contract.
But all through this, there was little doubt about his batting ability at the domestic level, even though he failed in Mumbai's only innings in the semi-final and made just 7 in the first innings in the final. His whirlwind 95 off 111 balls in the second innings, with Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar in attendance at the Wankhede, proved as much.
Iyer came out to bat when Ajinkya Rahane fell for 73 on the third morning, after adding only 15 to his overnight score. It soon became clear that he was a notch above the rest. Mumbai were in control by then, their lead standing at 283, which allowed Iyer to bat in the manner he likes to.
He started against left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey, with two slips in place. Dubey got one to turn square and beat the outside edge, but Iyer was quick to put it behind him. A few moments later, Dubey erred on the shorter side a couple of times, and Iyer hit him for boundaries.
In between, he launched seamer Aditya Thakare over long-off for the first of his three sixes. Vidarbha captain Akshay Wadkar realised Thakare, with a 60-over old ball and an average speed of 122kph, was not going to trouble Iyer, and so he turned to his quicker options: Yash Thakur and then Umesh Yadav.
As expected, Thakur started his spell with a short ball. Iyer rode the bounce comfortably and dabbed it down for a single on the leg side.
In his next over, Thakur used the same ploy with catchers at short leg and short midwicket. But the ball hardly got chest high and Iyer had no issues pulling through midwicket. On the last ball of the over, Thakur tried a bluff by slipping in a full delivery. Iyer was up to it and lofted over mid-off for another four.
Thakur then changed his angle and went around the wicket to try to cramp him. The ball, though, reached only the hip height and Iyer dispatched it over long-leg for a six.
Umesh was more accurate with his bouncers but Iyer handled him comfortably too, rolling his wrists to keep the ball down. In fact, the pull was Iyer's most productive shot against fast bowlers, along with the off-drive, bringing him 14 runs in seven attempts.
Luck was also on Iyer's side. On 49, he got an outside edge against Dubey but neither the wicketkeeper nor the slip fielder attempted the catch, and the resulting boundary took him to his fifty off just 62 balls. With Aditya Sarwate not taking the field because of back spasms, Wadkar was forced to bowl non-regular bowlers at times. Karun Nair served two full tosses just before lunch and Iyer feasted on them.
His appetite did not diminish even after the break. On the first ball of the second session, he stepped out to Dubey and smashed him over long-on. Iyer dominated his partnership with Musheer Khan to such an extent that when the hundred of their stand came up, Iyer's contribution was 74.
When Iyer had walked in, Musheer was already on 58. By the time Musheer reached 92, Iyer had raced to 82. It looked like he might get to the three-figure mark first but that did not happen. On 95, Iyer tried to hit Thakare for a six but was caught at long-off.
His knock, though, took the game far out of Vidarbha's reach.
After the Test series against England, India head coach Rahul Dravid was asked about Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who had also lost his central contract.
"Everyone who is playing domestic cricket is in the mix," Dravid had replied. "It is just a question of them getting fit, playing cricket, and forcing the selectors to pick them again."
Iyer is playing domestic cricket. He looked fit too, though the physio had to come out to stretch his right leg when he was on 80. And he has now scored runs as well. So has he forced the selectors to pick him again? With India not scheduled to play Test cricket in the near future, he'll have to wait and see.