"He is consistently performing whenever you are giving him a chance" - Aakash Chopra picks Shreyas Iyer as India's ODI player of the year

Aakash Chopra has picked Shreyas Iyer as India's best ODI player and all-format batter of the last calendar year.

Iyer amassed 724 runs at an excellent average of 55.69 and an impressive strike rate of 91.52 in the 17 ODIs he played last year. His 1609 runs across formats were the most by an Indian batter in 2022 and the third-highest in the world.

While reflecting on India's star performers of 2022 in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra highlighted that one player made a mark in all three formats, elaborating:

"India did not play much ODI cricket but whatever they played, you can actually keep this player's name in all three formats - he didn't play the T20 World Cup, but he is consistently performing whenever you are giving him a chance."

The former opener placed Shreyas Iyer on a high pedestal among all Indian batters, saying:

"He could be India's best all-format batter in 2022. I think you already know it - Shreyas Iyer. He made his Test debut in 2021 where he scored a century against New Zealand."

Chopra pointed out that the middle-order batter scored crucial runs for India in the recently concluded Test series against Bangladesh, observing:

"After that, he didn't get many opportunities to play Test cricket. He played in England and was dismissed playing the pull shot twice. There was a question mark but then he went to Bangladesh and scored important runs."

Iyer scored 202 runs at an outstanding average of 101 in the two-Test series against the Tigers. He bailed the visitors out of trouble every time he went out to bat and was slightly unfortunate for not being picked as the Player of the Series.

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"He scores runs regularly in ODI cricket" - Aakash Chopra on Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer struck a century and six fifties in the 15 ODI innings he played last year.

Chopra was particularly pleased with Iyer's consistent performances in ODIs, stating:

"He scores runs regularly in ODI cricket, you can play anywhere. You can change the country but he consistently always scores runs. In whatever T20s he has played, he has scored a lot of runs although, let's be fair, the IPL was not that good."

The renowned commentator concluded by picking the Mumbai batter as India's star performer of the year in 50-over cricket, elaborating:

"Whenever and wherever he has played for India and in whichever format, he has been absolutely sensational. In my opinion, he has been very, very good. India's best ODI player in 2022 has to be Shreyas Iyer."

Chopra also named Kuldeep Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Washington Sundar as three other players whose stature has grown over the last year. He added that Kishan's double century against Bangladesh was the highlight of the year in ODI cricket.