Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer reckons Shreyas Iyer needs to develop shots with which he can dominate pacers. It has been noticed that Iyer is at sea while playing against the fast bowlers and fails to score at a brisk pace.
Iyer scored 36 runs off 27 balls in the first T20I against South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday. The right-hander had the lowest strike rate among all the Indian batters who faced more than two balls.
Iyer scored 13 runs off 17 balls while playing against pace whereas he scored 23 runs off 10 balls against the spinners. Thus, he had a strike rate of well below 100 against the fast bowlers whereas he struck at 230 against the pacers.
In fact, it has been noticed that Iyer dances around in his crease while playing against the pacers and gets himself into a tricky position.
“You kind of know when Shreyas gets stuck, he moves around in the wicket a lot. He goes outside and wants to access the off-side. Otherwise, you won’t see him hitting a lot of boundaries or sixes off the fast bowlers. He did take down Shamsi and then later on Ishan Kishan took on the Keshav Maharaj threat,” Jaffer said on ESPNCricinfo.
“Look at the future, he needs to develop some shots with which he can dominate the fast bowlers also. He is batting in the top 4, he is not somebody who comes at the backend. So, he has to improve his game, especially the boundary hitting against fast bowlers. That innings could have been a little bit better. 10-15 more would have come if he had hit a couple more boundaries in this innings,” the former India opener further said.
On the other hand, former South African fast bowler Dale Steyn also spoke on the same lines and feels Iyer needs to improve his game against the pacers.
Iyer didn’t have a great game against South Africa in the first T20I as he dropped Rassie van der Dussen’s catch when the right-hander was on 29. Rassie went on to score an unbeaten knock of 75 runs off just 46 balls and added 131 runs with David Miller. Thus, that drop catch cost India a lot of runs.
Shreyas Iyer has been consistent in the white-ball format and he will look to deliver the goods for the team. Iyer will also aim to find a solution to his woes against the fast bowlers.
