While the rest of the Indian batsmen were struggling on the bouncy pitch of Adelaide, Shreyas Iyer changed the course of the game in his old style. His innings of 61 runs on 77 balls was not only a half-century, but it proved that experience, technique and confidence together can overcome any challenge.
Even though Team India has lost in the current ODI series against Australia, Iyer gave the message through his game that he has returned with full strength in limited overs cricket.
Old technology, new confidence
Shreyas Iyer Has again adopted the batting style of his childhood (upright stance). He believes that this has helped him to cope with bounce and speed better.
30-year-old Iyer said, ‘Since last year, I was trying to try a straight stance for such situations where the ball bounces more than expected. I worked on it with my coach and realized that this method suits my nature. I used to bat like this even in my childhood, so I thought – why not go back to it.
Same stance from domestic cricket to international cricket
Iyer had earlier tried this technique in domestic cricket and in the series against Australia ‘A’. Now he is batting with the same stance in the ODI series against Australia and the results speak for themselves. While the rest of the Indian batsmen were struggling in Adelaide, Iyer handled the innings with patience and balance.
Stance in cricket is the initial batting position of a batsman in which he prepares himself before the bowler’s ball arrives. Stance determines the batsman’s balance, vision and playing style and helps in playing a variety of shots.
Injuries taught me to listen to my body.
Troubled by back injuries, Iyer felt that the fatigue of long fielding and continuous overs in Test cricket was affecting his performance. Therefore, he took a break of 6 months from BCCI and distanced himself from red-ball cricket.
He said honestly, ‘After IPL, when I played red-ball matches, I realized that my intensity could not be maintained for long. Test cricket requires 100% energy in every session, which was not coming out of my body at the moment.
Return of both ODI and confidence
After the Champions Trophy, Iyer found his rhythm in the game by playing in the IPL, some first-class matches and then captaining India ‘A’. Now he is focusing on limited overs cricket, where both the old stance and new mentality are giving him strength.
Adelaide’s innings of 61 runs was not just runs, but a message – Shreyas Iyer is ready again, in the same old style, but with new intentions, even though Team India has accepted the challenge in this series.
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