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Xtra Time Web Desk: India cricketer Shreyas Iyer needed counseling to get his career back on track when he was only 16 years old. According to Santosh Iyer(father of Shreyas) “My son lost his focus during his junior days and so we felt he needed counselling more than scolding” The senior Iyer used to play with 4 years old Shreyas in the house with a plastic ball. Santosh was always convinced that Shreyas had talent since his childhood days as he used to middle the ball perfectly. As parents Santosh did everything to make sure Shreyas fulfill his potential. But Shreyas performance started dropping during his Mumbai U-16 days and one coach attributed it to lack of focus which worried Santosh. According to Santosh, “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 has either fallen in love or got mixed up in the wrong crowd (keeping bad company)!” It was good eight or nine years back when mental health was not given much importance. Today, as Shreyas has cemented his place in the Indian team, Santosh looks back and feel he made the right move by taking him to a sports psychologist. “Eventually, I was told that there was nothing to worry. 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,” said Santosh Iyer. Since making his ODI debut for India, Shreyas has scored 748 runs in 18 ODIs with an average close to 50 with one hundred and eight half-centuries. In 22 T20Is, he has 417 runs at an average of 27 plus and a strike rate of 129.50.