Indian batter Shreyas Iyer’s weakness against short-pitched deliveries is now known to all. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri had spotted Iyer’s problems while facing short deliveries a long time back. R Sridhar, former India fielding coach, recently recollected Shastri’s reaction after spotting Iyer’s vulnerability back in 2018, during the South Africa tour.
Shastri saw Iyer facing one short delivery. And that was enough for the former cricketer to conclude that Iyer will have to work hard against short-pitched balls.
“Straightaway, Morkel tested him out with a short ball and he fended it to the third man. And Ravi Shastri was sitting beside me. He said, ‘Sri, ye bachcha ko bahut kaam karna padega. Ravi Shastri saw just one ball and said that this guy has to work hard against quick, short-pitched bowling," Sridhar said during a chat with cricket.com.
Sridhar admitted that Iyer is not the sort of a batter who scores a lot of runs against. Sridhar pointed out that on several occasions, Iyer has been dismissed after gloving the ball to the keeper.
The problem got resurfaced during the ODI series against West Indies. Pacer Alzarri Joseph’s bouncer did the trick as Iyer was dismissed after scoring just 10 runs in the second T20I. England pacer James Anderson had also taken advantage of this and picked the wicket of Iyer in the fifth and final Test.
The five-match T20I series against West Indies did not turn out to be a fruitful one for Iyer. The 27-year-old batter came down to bat at his preferable number three position in the first three T20Is but he failed to do anything significant. Though, the scenario changed in the final game after Iyer opened the innings. He scored a half-century in the fifth T20I and played a fine knock of 40-ball 64.
Sridhar believes that Iyer’s inability to deal with bouncers is occurring due to a mental barrier.
“The day he cracks that code of short pitch bowling, bowlers will have nowhere to bowl to him. He is a very good player of all other stuff. It’s only a matter of time. It’s more of a mental thing than anything else," Sridhar opined.
Iyer was not selected for India’s 15-member Asia Cup squad. Iyer, in all likelihood, will not be able to seal his spot in the T20 World Cup squad as well.
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