Team India faced a seven-wicket loss in the opening game of the T20I series against South Africa on Thursday. The Rishabh Pant-led side did put a strong score of 211/4 in 20 overs, but the Proteas, riding on the contributions from Rassie van der Dussen ((75*) and David Miller (64*), chased down the target with five balls to spare. Following the game, former cricketers were critical of Rishabh Pant's decision to not complete Yuzvendra Chahal's quota of four overs, but India's former opener Wasim Jaffer identified another concern in the side's batting order.
Jaffer spoke in detail about Shreyas Iyer, as he analysed his batting technique. Iyer scored 36 off 27 balls in the first T20I, and Jaffer said that Iyer will have to develop shots that can allow him to “dominate fast bowlers.”
“You kind of know when Shreyas gets stuck, he moves around in the wicket a lot. He goes outside and wants to access the off-side. Otherwise, you won’t see him hitting a lot of boundaries or sixes off the fast bowlers. He did take down Shamsi and then later on Ishan Kishan took on the Keshav Maharaj threat,” Jaffer said on ESPNCricinfo.
“Look at the future, he needs to develop some shots with which he can dominate the fast bowlers also. He is batting in the top 4, he is not somebody who comes at the backend. So, he has to improve his game, especially the boundary hitting against fast bowlers. That innings could have been a little bit better. 10-15 more would have come if he had hit a couple more boundaries in this innings,” the former India opener further said.
{{/usCountry}}“Look at the future, he needs to develop some shots with which he can dominate the fast bowlers also. He is batting in the top 4, he is not somebody who comes at the backend. So, he has to improve his game, especially the boundary hitting against fast bowlers. That innings could have been a little bit better. 10-15 more would have come if he had hit a couple more boundaries in this innings,” the former India opener further said.
{{/usCountry}}Team India will return to action in the second T20I of the series against South Africa on June 12 in Cuttack.