A fresh-looking Shreyas Iyer comfortably sat in the chair for the post-match press presentation and addressed the first question, on opposition’s decision to bowl, in a very relaxed manner with a smile on his face. The shining bright solitaires in the ears enhanced his Mumbai swag but the mood completely changed after the next questioner used the two touchy words – short ball.
Well before the question was completed, an uneasy tension gripped his face but like the game today, he came prepared and didn’t hold back while pulling the criticism out of the park.
“When you say it’s (short ball) a problem for me what do you mean?” Iyer snapped back before adding, “Troubled me? Have you seen how many pull shots I’ve scored? Especially which has gone for four.”
He wasn’t done yet and further explained, with a dash of irritation in his tone, that he is just trying to hit a ball and the short ball problem is just a perception which has been created.
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“If you’re trying to hit a ball, you’re bound to get out anyway. Irrespective it’s a short ball, it’s an over pitch. If I get bowled two or three times, you all would say that, OK, he can’t play an in-swinging ball. He can’t play a cut if a ball is seaming. So, see, we, as players are bound to get out on any sort of deliveries. You guys have created that mahaul (environment) outside that he can’t play a short ball. And I feel that people are picking that up every now and then and it plays on your mind regularly and you keep working on that,” said Iyer.
India’s No.4 further added that he has played most of the cricket here in Wankhede where ball bounces “way more than any other pitches” and is equipped to handle those lengths.
“Coming from Mumbai, especially from Wankhede, where the bounce is pretty much even and it bounces way more than any other pitches. So, I’ve played majority of my games here, so I know how to tackle it. It’s just that when I go to hit some shots, you are bound to get out and sometimes it may work, sometimes it may not. And majority of the times it hasn’t worked for me, maybe that’s the reason you think it’s a problem for me. But in my mind, I know there’s no problem,” added Iyer.
The outside mahaul
The “mahaul outside” clearly was on Iyer’s mind before the match where he spent more than a couple of hours facing short deliveries and never attempted to keep the pulls on the ground. Across multiple sessions, he continued pulling them in front of square and continued going aerial. In the match, he replicated what he did during those sessions and even managed to pull one for a maximum.
Not the short-ball but one thing which was definitely playing on Iyer’s mind was the failure to convert “tremendous starts” in the tournament so far. He had just one half-century in the tournament prior to this game and had made up his mind that he was definitely going for it.
“Yeah, it was playing on my mind right from the start, because I was getting tremendous starts in the first few games. I wasn’t just able to capitalise on what I was getting to. But today, I just told myself that if it’s there in my area, I’m just going to go take the bull by the horns. And yeah, fortunately, it worked for me and I hope that it keeps on working for me in the future as well, because the team is in a great space at the moment. And the players are cherishing each other’s performance. That is very important when you come in such a big stage. And yeah, talking about my batting, I was just playing every ball on the merit. The wicket was awesome to bat on. And yeah, grateful to get the score today,” said Iyer.
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The right-hander was dismissed for a 56-ball 82 in the 48th over and could have well scored his hundred had he stayed there till the end. Not only him, even Virat Kohli (88) and Shubman Gill (92) came agonisingly close to the three-figure mark but weren’t able to get there. Iyer felt he could have got to 100 but insisted that the World Cup is a stage “where you play for the team”.
“See, this is the stage where you play for the team. You don’t play for your individual performance. We definitely discuss about missing out on centuries or half centuries, but going forward, say if we are put in the same situation, I would have to go against the bowlers, right? Like if I’m batting on the 47th or 48th over, I won’t be thinking. I was sighting the ball pretty well.
“It’s just that I missed out on that particular ball. It was a little away from my body and Madhushanka was bowling brilliantly the way he bowled with the new ball and also, he came in varying his pace, bowling slower ones here and there. He bowled smart and yeah talking about our performances, we definitely discuss, and a few balls here and there, I could have got to 100. But nonetheless, there are a few more matches to come. And hopefully, I’ll be able to get one,” said Iyer.
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