How Shreyas Iyer is leading without saying much

Early in the season, a video of Musheer Khan went viral. He was mimicking his Punjab Kings captain, Shreyas Iyer. The wide eyes, broad swagger, animated right hand, left-tilted head and a permanent smirk - it was all there. The walk oozed cockiness. And the entire act was a healthy dose of confidence, both from Musheer and the man he was enacting, a tribute and a roast in equal measure.

About six weeks later, fielding at long-on in the cauldron of Chepauk, Iyer's smile and swagger, on full display in that viral video, served him well. It was a night where it would've been easy to lose his cool. The humidity, which Iyer later described as "a lot more than any other field" he'd played on, was punishing. And Chennai Super Kings had just enjoyed their season's most productive stretch in the middle overs, hammering 86 runs for the loss of just one wicket.

Desperate to build on the breakthrough in the previous over, of Dewald Brevis no less, Iyer turned to Suyash Shedge to bowl the 16th. The medium pacer, bowling for the first time in the IPL, had already delivered two tidy overs for 14 runs. Another tight spell would've been a win. A wicket? Even better.

What followed instead was Punjab Kings' most expensive over of the season. Sam Curran tore into Shedge, smashing two sixes and two fours across six deliveries that totalled up to 26 runs, the most CSK had managed in a single over all season.

Iyer, stationed at long-on for the entire over, right in front of the press box, didn't flinch. No animated instructions, no rushed mid-over chats. He stayed put even as Shedge tried different angles to stop the flow of runs but with little success. It's not that he wasn't there for his young bowler. In fact, entrusting that over to the 22-year-old ahead of seasoned bowlers like Yuzvendra Chahal and Harpreet Brar, said more than words could.

The only time Iyer ran to Shedge was after the youngster bowled a no-ball, nearly conceded a six off the free hit, only to be saved by a flying stop from Iyer himself, and then gave away a boundary off a full toss. Even then, Iyer didn't linger. Just a quiet couple of words, which seemed too brief to be instructions. Only encouragement is that short, never advice.

Plenty of captains might have stepped in after every delivery, overinstructed, or worse, overconsoled the bowler. Not Iyer. He let the moment pass without turning it into a spectacle. Shedge was bowling to Curran, a seasoned IPL campaigner who was out there to prove a point and who had finally got a pitch to his liking. There was no need to make it harder.

Cut forward to the 19th over. Chahal, hitherto expensive in his two overs, was called in to bowl. PBKS still faced the threat of conceding 200, and the humidity remained high. What made it tougher was the over-rate penalty, which meant a spinner bowling the penultimate over could only have four fielders outside the ring. Still, Iyer maintained his calm self at long-on, stepping into the ring only once. To stand at slip for Chahal's hat-trick ball. And when the legspinner pulled it off, Iyer was among the first to run in and give him a hug.

These moments don't go unnoticed in a young squad. Musheer has gone on record to say how he's "never seen Iyer speak negatively," while Prabhsimran Singh recently told JioHotStar that Iyer "takes decisions with zero doubt in his mind" and "accepts them, no matter the outcome."

That's what Iyer did when he backed Shedge for a high-pressure over. That's what he did when he left his star spinner an over short. And that's what he did when he had unleashed Harpreet Brar's left-arm orthodox at two left-handers at the crease, and in the final over of the PowerPlay no less. The reward was more than just Ravindra Jadeja's wicket. It was a win for PBKS, and a costly loss for CSK, their fifth at home this season, and one that makes them the first team to be out of PlayOff contention.

"He's a lot more confident in himself now than he was before, and that comes with experience," head coach Ricky Ponting said of Iyer, with whom he had a similar coach-and-captain working relationship at Delhi Capitals. "Anytime he makes a decision now, he sticks with it and trusts it. And that's a great thing for a captain.

"I mean, he won the IPL last year as captain. When you've done that, and you've got that experience behind you, you believe and trust your instincts. I think that's the biggest thing with captaincy, especially in a T20 game when everything around you is happening so fast, fours and sixes flying everywhere. His ability to stay calm on the field... I think his maturity and experience are showing."

Ponting, who has taken a more hands-off approach with Iyer at PBKS than at DC, when Iyer was a much younger captain, added: "You talk to the players, they all love working with him. Just the way he communicates during the game, at practice, back at the hotel."

That same clarity was on display with the bat. Iyer's 72 off 41 balls was full of strokeplay but it was the weight of his innings that stood out. After all, this was a team that had been denied by the weather in Kolkata. And here, after choosing to chase, they saw CSK post 190, their highest total at home this season. It was never going to be an easy chase, especially on a black-soil pitch known for slowing down, the same kind on which KKR's spinners had recently tied CSK down in knots. But Iyer negotiated all of that with aplomb.

Whether it was Jadeja's full and fast deliveries at the pads, Curran's slower and back-of-length variations, or Pathirana's near-yorkers at high pace, none of it unsettled him. There were no short boundaries to target, no significant dew to make the ball skid on. It was the kind of innings that demanded calculation over flair, but also power to clear the boundaries, and Iyer had all of that to offer.

Which is why getting out, trying to play across the line to Pathirana, must have stung. No wonder he looked the most expressive when he was back in the dugout, standing, one hand resting on the seats, the other by his side, as his team struggled to close the run-chase. That brief footage of him said a lot.

"Brilliant innings. A captain's knock," Ponting said. "Shreyas started this tournament in the form I've never seen him in before. His first few games were outstanding. That knock tonight, that's one of the reasons I was so keen to get him here as captain. I know how good a player he is. I know how good a leader he is. And I know how hungry he is for success.

"If you look at him now, you just look him in the eye, you can tell that he's really hungry for success. He's just got that look in his eye where he knows he's the leader of this team, he wants to bring success to this team and this franchise and the way that he's playing. He doesn't look like he's going to let anything get in the way of that. So that's a great attitude for a leader to have, because that rubs off on everybody else around him.

"I had worked with him for a number of years at Delhi. He and I are really close. Off the field, you know, we talk a lot about the game. We talk a lot about his batting. We talk a lot about the tactics of the game. But I actually think he's taken his game to a new level, you know, he's a more mature player. Now, I think he understands the game and game situations probably better than ever before, and I think that was showcased there tonight, to be able to play the way they did.

"He'll be disappointed with himself that he didn't hit the winning runs. He didn't get his team across the line because I know how much he prides himself on being the man that's there at the end to win games."

In the closing moments of the chase, even when Iyer wasn't at the crease, his fingerprints were all over the win. As a batter for sure, but also as a captain. He didn't bark instructions or micromanage overs. He made decisions, let things unfold, and focused on what's to be done next. And the confidence he seemed to give his players, even without saying much, lingered.

Shedge will surely be ready to go again next time. Chahal will know where his captain stands. And Musheer? He'll keep imitating. Only now, he knows better where the swagger truly comes from.