Short-pitched balls are Shreyas Iyer’s nemesis, at least for the pundits, social media fans and most experts, if not for the batter himself. India’s mainstay in the middle order across all formats, Iyer has been tested against the best of bowlers on some toughest pitches lately, and yet, on several occasions, he came out on top. Vouching against feeling discomfort while facing short balls, Iyer said he would stick to his attacking template irrespective of anything.

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Following a below-par show in South Africa, where he scored 0, 4*, 31 and 6 across four innings, Iyer returned to domestic cricket to prepare for the England Tests starting January 25 in Hyderabad. Against Andhra in the recently-concluded Ranji Trophy game, the right-handed batter scored a run-a-ball 48 in Mumbai’s ten-wicket win on Monday.

Though the Andhra bowlers bowled negative lines and pitched it short to Iyer, restricting him from playing his natural strokes, the India batter dodged most deliveries, smashing the bad ones for four. 

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“I’m going to play attacking irrespective of the situation,” Iyer said after Mumbai’s win. 

“And also, when you bowl negative when you bowl safe and defensive at the start, you want to score runs, and you need to take your team through up to a certain point. So that was my mindset, and that’s why stuck with. Yeah, I was happy [with my knock] irrespective of the score,” he added.

New summer, new innings

After shining bright and high during the 2022 season, where he was the top-run-getter across formats, hitting 1489 runs in 38 innings, Iyer suffered a back injury that kept him away from the first half of the next year. 

Although he returned in some style, smashing daddy runs during the home 2023 World Cup, Iyer still feels the need to become India’s go-to-batter in times to come.

The wicket he batted on during the Ranji game was far from being a rank-turner, Iyer believes against England, the surface on offer would be spin-friendly and that he is ready for it.

“It wasn’t a turning track, to be honest, he said. 

“I’m assuming that we would be getting turning wickets against England. But other than that, it was just for my match fitness, to stay on the field as long as possible, that’s what mainly I was focusing on because especially after my injury, it has been tough for me to stick on the outfield for long. So this was great practice for me,” Iyer added. 

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