World Cup 2023: Shreyas Iyer hits back at suggestions he has trouble facing short balls

Shreyas Iyer hit out at a query that he has trouble against short balls. After smashing 82 runs against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, it took India from a position of strength to staggering 357 runs.

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Iyer scored 82 runs from 56 balls with three fours and six sixes to his credit. When he had joined the middle on Thursday, India had just lost Shubman Gill. Virat Kohli followed soon after for India to have new batters in the middle at 196/3 in 32 overs. 93 runs would come in the last 10 overs to put the game virtually beyond Sri Lanka.

“When you say it’s a problem for me what do you mean?,” Iyer went on a counter-offensive.

“Troubled me? Have you seen how many pull shots I’ve scored? Especially, which has gone for four? In my mind, I have no problems with short ball,” Iyer replied, seemingly upset with the use of word ‘problem’.

“If you’re trying to hit a ball, you’re bound to get out anyway. Irrespective of it’s a short ball, (or) it’s an over-pitch. If I get bowled two or three times, you all would say that OK ‘he can’t play an in-swinging ball’ or ‘he can’t play a cut if ball is seaming’,” Iyer said.

“We, as players, are bound to get out on any sort of deliveries. You guys have created that environment outside that ‘he can’t play a short ball’. And I feel that people are picking that up every now and then and it plays on your mind regularly and you keep working on that,” Iyer added.

Iyer reminded he has played majority of his domestic cricket at the Wankhede, his home ground, and he knows how to tackle the short ball well there.

“Coming from Mumbai, especially from Wankhede, where the bounce is pretty much even and it bounces way more than any other pitches. So, I’ve played (the) majority of my games here, so I know how to tackle it, he said.

“It’s just that when I go to hit some shots, you are bound to get out and sometimes it may work, sometimes it may not. And (the) majority of the times it hasn’t worked for me, maybe that’s the reason you think it’s a problem for me. But in my mind, I know there’s no problem,” he said.

Iyer, who had suffered a long term back injury and then struggled with back spasms once back, said he struggled with the fielding aspect of cricket.

“Yes, it was a difficult ride to come out of an injury, especially in terms of fielding. I wasn’t able to move as I used to before. But the trainers and the physios, they worked pretty hard on me, especially in terms of recovering after the games, because 50 overs, it takes a lot of toll on your body,” he said.

Sri Lanka, who were bowled out for 55 runs in 19.4 overs, suffered a humiliating defeat. It is the lowest score at a World Cup by a full-time member of the ICC. Iyer said the Indian batters were lucky that they don’t have to face their bowling counterparts in matches.

“Yeah, looking at today’s bowling and the previous game, definitely, we are lucky not to play against them. But at the same time, we batted them in the nets. So, it gives us an added motivation to come and play any sort of bowlers, he said.

On the bowlers he said, “They are so experienced. They know exactly what is happening on the field. And as a batsman, we keep exchanging our information, especially if you’re going to bat next.”

“They come in and they talk about the conditions, what is happening and in that conversation the bowlers are also around and they also watch what is happening on the field,” Iyer said.

“I feel they are experienced enough to pick up how the wicket is playing and what they’ll be able to execute in the second innings, if we are bowling second. If they are bowling first, then definitely they are individual bowlers to know what is happening. And they’re so experienced that we don’t have to tell them basically anything,” Iyer added.