Shreyas Iyer’s inability to handle the short ball is no longer a hush-hush thing. Analysts on board for various teams have figured it out that the India middle order batter can be pushed to the back-foot upon deploying a short ball barrage. No surprises, from West Indies to New Zealand, teams don’t waste time bowling short whenever he lands on the crease.
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One such instance happened in the first ODI match in Auckland where he came out to bat and was straightaway tested by Lockie Ferguson. In his response, Iyer played a raving uppercut over Tom Latham’s head for a six. But it was a flawed innings where he gave away too many chances to the fielders, and yet managed to survive.
Speaking for Cricbuzz, former Kiwi bowler Simon Doull said he wants to see Iyer at his very best not the one who was on display in Auckland.
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“Look, I was really disappointed with the third ball. It’s not the Shreyas Iyer I want to see. I want to see him fight through those couple of moments but it is tough, I get it. It’s hard. And when you have got the reputation of not playing the short balls well, it is not easy. It’s a horrible place to be in.”
He further added:”But I want to see him fight a bit harder for that. But then he just finds a way to score runs and he scores them all around there. He is particularly aggressive against spin and tries to be. But I just like him when he shows a bit more composure. It was a good innings tonight. I thought it was a very good innings after a really rough start.”
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Coming off a first-ball duck, Shreyas Iyer found form with a neat half-century before Washington Sundar blazed away to a 16-ball 37 to guide India to a competitive total.
Besides Iyer’s 76-ball 80, Shikhar Dhawan (72 off 77 balls) and Shubman Gill (50 off 65), too, struck fluent fifties after the tourists were sent in to bat.
Meanwhile Tom Latham scored a century and Kane Williamson finished on 94 not out as New Zealand went one up in the ODI series with a seven wicket win, having lost the Twenty20 series to India.
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