Former Indian opener, Wasim Jaffer has highlighted that Shreyas Iyer needs to improve his game against the pacers, considering he bats in the top-order in the T20I side. Jaffer pointed out that Iyer doesn’t feel as comfortable facing the fast bowlers as he does against spin and it was evident with the way the Iyer paced his innings in the 1st T20I against South Africa on Thursday in New Delhi. He smashed 36 off 27 balls against South Africa in the T20I series opener, but against pace, he managed just 13 from 17 deliveries.
During a recent chat on ESPNCricinfo, Wasim Jaffer said, “Shreyas Iyer did take down Shamsi and then later on Ishan Kishan took on the Keshav Maharaj threat. 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. 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.”
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Shreyas Iyer has the issue of not being able to deal with short deliveries and it was evident in IPL 2022 despite the star batter scoring more than 400 runs in his first stint as captain of KKR.
Meanwhile, former South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn has come in support of Iyer to work around the issue with the help of Rahul Dravid, saying he needs to be ready to face up to pace, considering the T20 World Cup 2022 will be held on pace-rich pitches in Australia this year.
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Dale Steyn elaborated, “Knowing that the World Cup is going to be in Australia this year, he is going to have to combat that, facing lot more seamers than spinners. That said, he has a couple more months to work on that. He is a great player, he will work with Rahul Dravid and figure out how to work out that aspect of his game.”
India will be looking to make a strong comeback when they face South Africa in the 2nd T20I in Cuttack on Sunday.
