Shreyas Iyer might find it challenging to completely alter his approach at the age of over thirty, given his established muscle memory.
Shreyas Iyer arrived for an optional training session and immediately strolled outside the Newlands Stadium for throwdowns, just before the start of the second Test in Cape Town. Along with batting instructor Vikram Rathour, the two throwdown gurus Nuwan Senaviratne, a southpaw side-armer, and Raghavendra were putting on a show from eighteen yards away. The intention was to prepare the showy Mumbaikar for short balls, which have plagued him in all forms of cricket since his debut. A few minutes into the workout, he launched one mean, short throwdown from eighteen yards into the body, which kicked up from length. The reduced distance traveled meant that there were more than 150 clicks.
The patch of flesh between his upper and lower abdomen was struck by the bat because it did not descend quickly enough.
He was groaning in pain and flung his bat. He remained in a squat, struggling to breathe, until the physiotherapist and other staff members arrived to see how he was doing.
The problem was not only technical but also psychological because Iyer didn’t appear at all at ease, but the Kolkata Knight Riders captain had no rivals because there wasn’t a good middle order reserve hitter in the lineup.
After six knockout games in SENA countries so far, his scores were as follows: 15 and 19 in Birmingham, 31 and 6 in Centurion, and 0 and 4 not out in Cape Town. It is currently less than 40 on his test average, down from around 50.
Iyer can undoubtedly be considered a master against spinners, and he should have no trouble confronting Chris Woakes or James Anderson to deliveries that are below knee roll.
However, when December 2024–25 rolls around on Australian tracks, Iyer’s problems will undoubtedly get worse if he doesn’t make a drastic technical shift in his game with appropriate head balance and perhaps a cheekier stance.
However, he is almost thirty years old and has developed muscle memory, so it might be challenging to turn his game around.
When a bouncer was bowled at Mohinder Amarnath’s right shoulder in the 1982–1983 season, he would take it on the body and hook it imperiously with his left shoulder. This was part of his slightly chest-on stance.
Iyer will have to blaze his own trail, but that’s easier said than done.
Iyer is a player whose main method of play is with his hands; his footwork is not very noticeable. He therefore consistently plays from the back foot, even on deliveries where he should be on the front foot, on bouncey tracks because he is mentally prepared for a short ball.
His feet are freezing because he believes he will only ever be given small balls to eat.
“My role is to instill trust in them. Regarding Iyer, Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal—three of the greatest batsmen in Indian history—who found it difficult to deal with bounce, skipper Rohit Sharma remarked, “KL, Rohit, and Kohli, we have all learned from travelling.”
“They’ll discover what to do and don’t do. The situation is not the same in India. India is a very difficult country as well. In India, we have also witnessed similar wickets. Moving forward, it will also be difficult.
These kinds of situations are what you need to learn from. You gain confidence when you perform well in these circumstances, Rohit remarked.
Still, there are many who disagree. Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar stated in a conversation with ESPNcricinfo that he is “not so sure” about Iyer but believes Gill and Jaiswal will find out by the time the Australia tour arrives.
Iyer recently took exception at being questioned about his problems with short ball.
“What do you mean?” He had retorted that he believed it to be a fabricated perception.
Now that he’s in denial mode, Iyer could only be able to change his direction once he acknowledges that he has technical problems when playing short ball.
