Underfire Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer has trained hard for over two hours alongside Indian coaches honing his skills to play short balls before the game against Sri Lanka in front of his home crowd at Wankhede. The 28-year-old has struggled on a bigger stage, falling victim to a set trap by an opponent.
Iyer has only scored one half-century in six innings which came against Pakistan and hasn’t exactly delivered goods for what he is known for. Short balls cost India’s No. 4 in the last two innings against England and New Zealand. Both times he was completely out of control and off the front foot and would be keen to improve his skills in the remaining games of the ODI World Cup.
In the nets most of those deliveries were at or near chest height, the 28-year-old was able to get into a comfortable position by maintaining the bulk of weight on the front foot.
The plan was straightforward: just keep hitting them in the air and get better at it. In between the hundreds of brief deliveries, some were flung up by the spinners and launched into the stands in a classic Iyer no-look fashion, where he looked extremely comfortable against the slow bowlers.
India coach Rahul Dravid observed a flawless pull shot towards the end of Shreyas Iyer’s hit, The practice session lasted more than two hours and was divided into many sessions. Once the hands had retreated far enough to simulate the ideal swing, the wrists had to work to keep the ball down.
Iyer continued to smash deliveries in the air and never tried to keep the ball down, which might provide the opportunity to opponents in Mumbai.
Just 50% of Indian players showed up for the optional training session in Mumbai, India. While some people were not present, including Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah.
With Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul leading the way for India in batting, India’s seamers have been roaring, led by Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah alongside spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja and the experienced players would be keen to continue their fine form heading into the business end of the mega event in India.