Shreyas Iyer became the third Indian captain to score a T20I hundred.
India defeated the West Indies by 8 wickets, successfully chasing a 172-run target. Iyer made 102* with 10 fours and 6 sixes, while Ishan Kishan played a supporting role with 37*.
Nayar revealed that Iyer felt that he was not getting enough force into his shots and his bat swing did not feel as clean as it had before. Hence, after he returned from Japan, Nayar went to Iyer’s home, and the two kept talking about his batting and worked on the same.
Iyer and Nayar returned to the fundamentals. They practiced his grip, his initial motion, and his ability to approach other bowlers. Above all, Iyer wanted to regain the sense of freedom he had when hitting the ball.
"One of the things he was feeling at the end of the Asian Games was something to do with his technique, where he felt he wouldn't generate as much force while hitting, and just the thought process of not being able to clear the boundary.
We did a bit of work on his grip and his movements so that he speaks about getting flow and momentum into his batting. And then obviously a bit of tactical nuances as to how he can overcome certain bowlers and stuff,” Nayar told PTI.
Iyer himself admitted that the conversation helped. One of the most important lessons for Iyer was to get his movement just before the ball was delivered.
"I had a brief interaction with Abhishek Nayar in that period where we were talking about cricket. I think that conversation with him helped me a lot in the performance against West Indies. The key that I observed in my batting was setting myself before the delivery of the ball, and that worked perfectly. So, creating that momentum and rhythm was essential at the start of the innings, and it worked out pretty well," he said in a video shared by the BCCI.
There was no quick fix involved. Nayar said they had to practice the changes rather than simply talk about them.
"You can't talk and get this right. You obviously have to demo it. So, we did that when we met, just so that he understands the feeling of doing it because you can't make technical changes without actually practicing it," he said.
Abhishek Nayar has been the go-to person for several other Indian batters to get their issues sorted out. Rohit Sharma has worked with Nayar for some years now, and the ex-India batter was the reason why Rohit returned to peak fitness after the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, and Rinku Singh have all benefitted from their association with Abhishek Nayar.
"It's not that he doesn't have the ability. For a cricketer, the important thing is feeling before the ball is bowled that he can tonk it out of the park, and then, whether or not it happens is a completely different story,” Nayar stated.
Nayar said Iyer had been particularly unhappy with the force he was generating during the Asian Games.
"A lot of what happened in the Asian Games for him was that he just felt like he couldn't generate the kind of force he wanted while he was trying to hit the ball, and he felt his bat-swing wasn't as clean as it has been in the past," he said.
However, Nayar does not want him to pursue another hundred. The advice from Iyer's previous coach is straightforward: stick to what worked. Iyer will fly to Ranchi for the second Twenty20 International.
"He is going to go to Ranchi from Lucknow, which may or may not be a very different pitch. I'm just happy that things turned out the way they did because an international hundred is always special. You just don't want to follow that up by saying, I want to score another. You want to follow that up by saying, "I want to try and focus on the same process, and hopefully the results deliver," Nayar added.
(PTI inputs)