One of the experiments that Team India tried during the T20 International series against Bangladesh at home seems to have paid off handsomely for the Men in Blue. The idea to promote Shreyas Iyer to No. 4 has reaped the desired result.
The 24-year-old Mumbaikar seems to have carried forward his dazzling ODI form, which was on display in the Caribbean a few months back, into the T20 format.
After sparkling briefly in his cameos of 22 and 24 not out in the previous two games, Iyer blasted 62 off 33 balls, a blazing knock that included five sixes and three fours, in the decider at Nagpur on Sunday.
The quickfire, decisive effort also delighted his personal coach, former India batsman Pravin Amre, who is also an assistant coach at the Delhi Capitals, a team Iyer leads in the Indian Premier League.
“The value of his innings is in the fact that it came in the decider. He paced his innings very well. He was fortunate to get a chance (dropped at backward point off Shafiul on 1) early on, but he became so cautious after that, that he didn’t even think about scoring a boundary in his first 10 runs.
"Once he got the momentum, he was a different batsman. This is where I’ve seen a mature version of Shreyas,” Amre said.
This new-found maturity, clearly aided by the responsibility of captaincy at Delhi Capitals, should help Iyer improve his T20 average, which, at 21.42, doesn’t reflect his enormous talent one bit.
Earlier, Amre says, “he would look to dominate.”
“This is where he’s improved his game. This is what maturity is all about. It is how a No. 4 needs to bat. Sometimes you lose two early wickets and you’ve to get that one partnership (that changes the course of the innings). Tonight, he paced his innings perfectly. He took his chances after the 12th over and his role was crucial in us getting to a respectable total,” analyses Amre.
Amre credits Iyer’s growth as a T20 batsman to the IPL.
“I’ve seen him working on his T20 game for the last two years. Even in the shortest format, there is time to settle down, and I think he’s making use of that time. After 12 balls, he was on 9, but he raced to his 50 off 27 balls,” points out Amre.
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