India vs West Indies: Iyer Impact - How India’s number 4 has emerged as next best after Rohit, Kohli

Ahead of the first ODI in Chennai, Team India head coach threw all his weight behind Shreyas Iyer to nail down the number 4 slot in the side.

Ahead of the first ODI in Chennai, Team India head coach threw all his weight behind Shreyas Iyer to nail down the number 4 slot in the side. This has been a contentious position for the side for a while now and the young man has shown initial promise to own the spot for the long haul. “The way he is batting now if he doesn’t own that position, I will be very very surprised. He is 24-25 years but he has played so much first-class cricket. I think he has realised what he can do at No. 4. That’s the most important thing,” Shastri told India Today.

Shreyas Iyer was impressive in Chennai (AP)

And the young man vindicated this trust in the first ODI when he not only steadied a wobbling ship, but forged a superb century stand with Rishabh Pant. He showed he had the temperament and the game to suss conditions and adapt his game accordingly. He played an innings of 70 runs and it although, it came to a premature end, his average reads 68.66 this year, which is the best by any Indian batsmen with 200+ runs in 2019.

Not only this, his balls/dismissals of 65.67 is also the 2nd best in this list and it comes immediately after MS Dhoni. And then, his strike-rate of 104.56 is only next to Hardik Pandya.

He has been a consistent player in his short career so far - he has scored a half-century in five of the eight innings he has played thus far. Such has been his consistency, that with batsmen with more than 400 ODI runs this year, he has the highest per cent of 50+ scores/innings.

“I feel it’s a good achievement with me, I should continue with my form and see to it that I make my team win everytime. I was really tempted between the 15th to 35th over when the offie came on (to hit in the air) but we needed a partnership. After the 35th over when I saw the ball was in my slot, I went for it and hit a six (off Chase),” he said after his innings in Chennai.

“Pant is the kind of batsman who can change the momentum of the game and that’s what he did today. I just told him to try and hit straight because you’ll get to know the wicket and know how you can play. I feel the pitch will turn more. If we bowl our spinners at the right time, we’ll be on top. It’s slow and as the game goes on it’ll get more slow. The dew factor will come, so it’s difficult to say,” he further added.