The longer the gap between your mistakes, the more likely you are to find success in the sporting world. There are no double takes and if you keep failing in the same way, there is always someone else ready to step up.
Shreyas Iyer knows how that feels. He ceded his place in the Test team to Sarfaraz Khan and is still looking for a way back. And a back injury combined with a weakness against the short ball saw even his place in ODIs being questioned.
But now that the right-hander from Mumbai is back among the runs, he is slowly but surely sending a message across to opposition — the short ball is not a problem any more. Proof enough are scores of 56, 15, 78, 44 and 59 in his last five ODI innings. His perceived weakness was attacked but he chose to counter-attack.
A good short ball will, truth to be told, trouble most batters. But Iyer realised that overcoming this weakness against the short ball is a slightly different proposition to working on off-stump technique. For starters, an ill-equipped batter is in clear danger of being hurt.
Iyer’s losing his central contract at the start of the year, unwelcome as it was, gave him the time to work with long time personal coach Pravin Amre. The two of them would work in tandem during the last Ranji season, the former India batter, based in Mumbai, a phone call away. Iyer knew, he was always going to find takers in the IPL. Getting his India career up and running was the bigger goal.
“When your skills are enhanced, your mental toughness comes in. If you don’t have the skills, no matter how mentally tough you are, it will not matter,” said Amre while mentioned thought that overcoming the short ball is more a mental game.
Experts have spoken about Iyer is now using of the depth of the crease better to play the short ball. Of closing his stance, a fraction. Of his front foot being straighter than it was when he is pulling. Not walking away from the bouncer.
“It all comes down to getting into better positions,” Amre said. “Once you get that right, the reaction will come. For that there are so many aspects involved – your center of gravity, your head position, hand position, the trigger base. All credit to Shreyas. I can only advise. He has worked really hard. Also, credit to the team of throwdown staff who constantly work with him.”
Two strong shots of intent against Jofra Archer – a pull and the ramp over third man to foil England’s plans in the recent Nagpur ODI served as a trailer of Iyer’s improved game. He was also carrying confidence from a prolific domestic season across formats.
Iyer foiled Pakistan’s plans, last week, when he pulled Haris Rauf’s express pace with ease. The No 4 batter is aware, if the match situation allows, short-pitched plans would be thrust against him early. It’s what he has trained for.
“First of all, no batter in the world is always comfortable against the short ball,” said Amre. “Shreyas has all the ability to dominate spinners in the middle order. After working on the short ball, he becomes more dangerous and an asset to the team.”
Sweeps and reverse sweeps
In Dubai, where India plays all its Champions Trophy matches, there are other challenges too. For instance, scoring quick runs on slower pitches. And after watching Iyer’s big-hitting against spin in the 2023 ODI World Cup, he wasn’t going to be served full balls on a platter.
Pakistan mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed used his bag of tricks while maintaining a wicket-to-wicket line. Playing him out watchfully meant that the usually fluent Iyer was going 17 off 34 balls.
That’s when he brought out the reverse sweep against Khushdil Shah’s left-arm spin. The spinner reacted by trying to finish the over with more pace but Iyer was waiting, this time with the conventional sweep to hit another boundary.
“To play sweeps and reverse sweeps, straight away, for me at least, is not easy,” Iyer said after the Pakistan match. “But rotating the strike is going to be important going forward from here because that puts a decent amount of pressure on the bowlers. They keep changing their line and lengths and yeah, once you keep taking singles, you get loose deliveries. Once you take on the loose deliveries and hit them for four or six, I think the bowlers are more under pressure and you can keep ticking the scoreboard from there on.”
It’s the kind of template that has allowed the best in the business, Virat Kohli, to rake in the runs. It’s what every Indian batter, whether it is Gill or Iyer, who bats around Kohli is trying to master.
Iyer was dismissive against spin in the last World Cup. Nimble footed, he would loft straight sixes, with the pitches mostly batting friendly. Here, boundary hitting has been more difficult. Which is why Iyer is looking to play with the field more. As Amre said, to be able to do that, you require skills.
Iyer wasn’t a sure starter for the Champions Trophy. The lucky break in the Nagpur ODI, with Kohli unavailable, turned out to be “a blessing” and he hasn’t looked back since. Now, it may be time to turn his starts into memorable knocks that will carve themselves into the memories of all those watching. That is the logical next step and one can be sure, he’ll try.
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