Shreyas Iyer may have been criticised for his weakness against the shorter delivery but it’s also a fact that he’s on the way to overcoming it. Team India lost back-to-back ODI series overseas in a span of two weeks, but Iyer’s consistency is surely one of the major positives that the experts have been talking about.
Iyer has scored 667 runs in his last 11 ODI innings. He smashed six half-centuries and a ton and averages 74.11. In the second face-off against Bangladesh on Wednesday, he scored 82 off 102 balls, taking India closer to the 272-run target. But his dismissal certainly hampered the rhythm of India’s batting and despite Rohit Sharma scoring a quick-fire 51 not-out in the end, the visitors lost the game by 5 runs.
Veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik feels that there’s no doubt about Iyer ability to score runs, but he needs to finish games and take the country home in such crucial situations.
“Stats wouldn’t lie and he has been India’s highest run-getter in ODIs this year. It says a lot. The way he has played over a period of time, it’s been phenomenal. He has scored 700-plus runs just this year. You can see that confidence. One-Day cricket is something that is right up his alley. He likes the fact that he takes a few balls and then starts launching, and a terrific player of spin,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
“And the fact that these days, whenever he walks in, they test him with short balls, and he is coming good almost every game. Yes, he had an odd failure and that could be due to short ball but every time he crosses that, you could see he is a man on a mission and wants to be there for the team.
“He almost took India where they looked safe but if you want to make a name like what Virat Kohli has done over the years, these are the games when you need to score 120-130 not out. That’s a big difference. Be that guy who remains not out and takes the country home,” he added.
India will face Bangladesh in the third and the final ODI on Saturday in Chattogram where they will look for a consolation victory before shifting focus on Tests.
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