Former India fielding coach R Sridhar has shared an interesting incident featuring Shreyas Iyer from India’s tour of South Africa in 2018. Iyer’s short-ball woes are well known to all, and now all the opposition bowlers have been making the most of his weakness to keep the Indian batter in check.
Notably, the right-handed batter missed out on a berth in India’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2022, thanks to his inconsistent performance in international cricket. However, he has found himself as one of the standby players for the Asia Cup 2022.
Well, Sridhar recalled former head coach Ravi Shastri’s reaction to one of Iyer’s dismissals against short deliveries during India’s tour of South Africa in 2018, and realised the batter would have to work very hard against the rising ball to score a run at the highest level.
R Sridhar told cricket.com: “It is a very perceived weakness that we all have been seeing at the highest level, not just now. I remember an incident way back in 2018. Shreyas Iyer had made his (ODI) debut against Sri Lanka in India and, quickly after that, we went to South Africa for a multi-format tour.”
He continued, “Straightaway, Morkel tested him out with a short ball and he fended it to third man. And Ravi Shastri was sitting beside me. He said, ‘Sri, ye bachcha ko bahut kaam karna padega’ (Sri, this kid will have to work really hard). Ravi Shastri saw just one ball and said that this guy has to work hard against quick, short-pitched bowling.”
On Iyer’s short-ball woes, the former coach said: “Shreyas is not someone who gets a lot of runs on the short ball. Many a times he has got out gloving the ball to the keeper or caught at midwicket or deep square leg. He’s not like Rohit Sharma, who plunders the bowlers on the short ball, but occasionally gets caught at fine leg.”
He signed off by saying, “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.”
