Shreyas Iyer backs off against pacers, to go forward

The India batter is seen as weaker facing the short ball, but coaches point out his numbers as well as the work he has done to iron out issue

International cricket, like most other sports at the top level, is slightly more inclined toward mental strength and adaptability than technical correctness. Shreyas Iyer is a prime example of that. He has a far from the bookish definition way of dealing with short-pitched deliveries. He backs away exposing all the stumps and tries to flat-bat the ball square of the wicket on the off side. Seeing a top-order batter play like this should encourage a fast bowler, while reducing Iyer’s chances of success. Yes to the first, but no for the second.

Shreyas Iyer during the 2nd T20I match between India and South Africa at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday.  (ANI)

While Iyer's methods of handling the short ball fell flat against Josh Hazlewood in Australia in 2020 and Lungi Ngidi and Sisanda Magala in South Africa in 2022, his overall numbers are encouraging. Iyer has a much better record against seamers than spinners in T20s.

Since 2020, roughly from when Iyer's susceptibility against the short ball became an open secret, the batter has a strike rate of 133 and an average of 43 against pacers compared to 127 and 29 against spin in all T20 cricket. His boundary percentage against seamers is also much higher than the spinners. Iyer hits a boundary every 5.87 balls against pacers. Against spinners, he takes 8.87 balls.

Come to IPL 2022 and the numbers improve. Iyer hit 31 fours and five sixes against pacers, and 10 fours and six sixes against spinners. His balls-per-boundary improved to 4.94 against pacers and was 7.56 against spinners.

Now, what happens when the seamers pitch it short to Iyer in T20s? Surprisingly, his strike rate goes up to 181 and the boundary percentage rises. His average isn’t that great, which means he can get out quickly. But he has made peace with the risk-reward method.

According to ESPNCricinfo data, if the ball is pitched accurately, at short of a good length, and is directed into Iyer's body, then he struggled the most. His strike rate and average dipped drastically. But the Kolkata Knight Riders captain has worked on that aspect too.

Instead of just backing away, Iyer has started to open up on side by getting inside the line of the bouncer. He did that against Jason Holder in KKR’s last IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants, pulling a short one directed at his body for six. He did that against Rajasthan Royals as well when Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna tried to target his weak area.

Specific training

Former India wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra, who worked with Iyer last year when he was Delhi Capitals assistant coach, said the 27-year-old did specific training ahead of the UAE leg of the 2021 IPL trying to find scoring options against the short ball.

"He started training with Pravin Amre a week before our camp. Amre also organised some practice matches. Stepping out against spinners and hitting them over long-on and long-off comes naturally to him. What he has been working on is his scoring shots against the seamers, especially when they bowl back-of-a-length. You have to innovate when bowlers don't bowl to your strengths,” he said. “He started to shuffle across… He put more weight on scoring than survival.”

Ahead of the South Africa T20I series, Iyer spent considerable time practising against short deliveries. Ratra said this has been his feature in the last two years. The backing away technique is his game plan; he now wants to manoeuvre the field instead of only going over point and third man. He showed glimpses of his tweaked technique when he hit a Kagiso Rabada back-of-a-length delivery over mid-off for four in the Delhi T20.

“Traditionalists will always frown seeing a batter expose his stumps, or play the reverse-sweep but in T20, you can't let bowlers dictate terms… It's his tactical move, not an instinctive one. He has spent hours in the nets trying to perfect shots square of the wicket by backing away. To us, it may appear he is uncomfortable and hence is exposing his stumps… And if you see, he also plays the shot according to the field,” Ratra added.