Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer has been a regular in the Indian team, especially in the white-ball formats. Yet, he hasn’t quite been able to cement his place in the limited-overs circuit, especially in T20Is. Taking up the No. 3 role for the team in the T20Is against South Africa, Iyer has had mixed performances, where many feel that he hasn’t been able to fulfill his potential.
With the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli set to return in the forthcoming assignments, the pressure on Iyer to deliver in the remaining two games against the Proteas is bound to increase. Iyer isn’t a part of the Ireland series either, most likely because of the clash with England Test, and will likely be replaced by either Rahul Tripathi or Sanju Samson in the team.
While there’s no denying that Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav are ahead of Iyer in the pecking order as far as the No. 3 or No. 4 spot goes, Tripathi and Samson also have been given a chance to usurp the Kolkata Knight Riders captain. If the duo manages to impress against Ireland, Iyer’s stocks could further fall, and it could get too late for him to bounce back in time for the T20 World Cup 2022.
Wasim Jaffer explains Shreyas Iyer’s struggles
Former India batter-turned-pundit, Wasim Jaffer, doesn’t feel Iyer has done enough to warrant a place in India’s middle-order. He highlighted the batter’s weakness against pace bowling as one of the areas that need improvement. Keeping the T20 World Cup 2022 in mind, Jaffer surely needs Iyer to do a better job in these opportunities that he is getting.
“Shreyas Iyer is batting at No. 3 and you always have expectations from your top-order players because [they] get to play more overs. In the last match, it was a very good [opening] partnership and you (Iyer) try to play more shots than usual to continue that momentum and take your team to the score of 190-200. But yes… he needs to be a bit better against fast bowling because they bowl short against him. The T20 World Cup is in Australia where there will be bounce and it won’t be easy to score runs square of the wicket on the big grounds. He needs to focus on that and improve a bit,” Jaffer said on ESPNCricinfo.
While Suryakumar Yadav was injured for the South Africa assignment, Virat Kohli was rested. On the tour of Ireland, Surya will return to the Indian team while Kohli would probably mark his way back on the England tour. With those two returning, Jaffer wants Iyer to learn from his mistakes and show quick improvement.
“… His spot will always be up for grabs when Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav return to the team. But for now, he needs to play well in the next two matches for India to win the series,” he said.
In the three matches so far against South Africa, Iyer has aggregated 90 runs. From a player of his calibre and experience, a lot more is expected.
