Former India head coach Ravi Shastri offered insights into Shreyas Iyer's batting and discussed a key change the right-hander has made to return to prolific form in recent months.
According to Shastri, Iyer’s excellent run can be attributed to a key adjustment made to his batting technique.
After a great campaign in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Shreyas struggled with recurring back injury and then lost his BCCI central contract owing to disciplinary issues. He was also dropped from the Test side and was not considered for selection in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad.
The 30-year-old made a return to the ODI team during the England series at home in February this year, where he initially admitted he wasn't the first-choice to be in the lineup. However, Virat Kohli’s injury paved the way for his inclusion in the playing XI for the opening ODI.
Since then, Iyer hasn’t looked back. He finished as India's leading run-getter (243 runs in five matches at 48.60) in the triumphant ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign in Dubai.
This consistent brilliance helped Shreyas Iyer regain a place in India's list of 34 players with contracts for the 2024/25 international season.
“He was very side on, was back and back, very much leg-side. The fact that he's prepared to go back and across now and with a very upright stance and the pick up,” Shastri said on the most recent episode of The ICC Review.
“While he's moving back, the bat's being picked up as well when he's going back and across. That allows him to play both sides of the wicket. If they bang it in short, he can pull and hook. And if there's any room outside the off stump, he can cut as well,” he added.
Shastri further opined that this change has allowed Shreyas to play more freely on both sides of the wicket and particularly against the short ball — an area that had long been considered a weakness in his game.
“So that opens up the game for him rather than being too leg-side where the rib cage was being targeted and then there was no escape," Shastri remarked.
“Now he's got space to go both ways and he's such a good timer of the ball. He's got good hands and when he gets into position early then he can be devastating as he's showing now when he's batting.”
India’s next big assignment is the tour of England, where they are set to face the hosts in five Test matches. Shastri reckons Iyer has an outside chance of earning a recall.
“Shreyas Iyer in particular, the way he's played for India over the last 18 months and he's become an absolute certainty in the white-ball format of the game, especially the one-day format," Shastri said.
“He can (earn a recall for Test cricket) but it's again going to be a competition. White-ball, certain (selection). Test cricket, (we) have got to see who the other players are around," he concluded.
(With ICC Inputs)
