Overwhelmed that the Australians devised a short ball strategy against him, Indian batsman Shreyas Iyer says it can best be tackled by adopting a counter-offensive approach and taking advantage of the field placing.
Canberra: Josh Hazlewood got Iyer into a tangle with a well-directed bouncer in the first ODI while he gave a better account of himself in the second game where he scored 38 off 36 balls.
“I am really happy that they are coming up with a plan (against me),” Iyer said on the eve of the inconsequential third ODI when asked about the home team peppering him with short-pitched stuff.“I feel overwhelmed and take it as a challenge. But I thrive under pressure and it motivates me to go against them. I feel it (a short leg and leg gully) helps to take advantage and score more runs and make best use of it,” said India’s number four batsman.
Playing the short stuff is all about mind-set for Iyer along with the ad-justment while batting at the nets.“It’s all about mind-set that you need to adjust. How you need to place yourself on the wicket. Rather than bending down too much (during stance), you stand upright. It’s easier to pick up the short one.”“I have set a pattern for myself. Every time I play, I give myself a little bit of time and get set. If they come up with that field (for short ball), I get aggressive as well. Because that kind of field is easy to manipulate.”He agreed that confusion about the shot selection brought about his downfall against Hazlewood in the first game.
“I knew that short ball was going to come. I got in two frame of minds, thinking of pulling and at the same time I had this upper cut shot. I got stuck in between two thoughts and couldn’t play the shot.”In the second game, he just watched the ball and reacted accordingly.
“It was easy to do that rather than thinking about what the bowler is going to do. I like to give myself some time at the beginning. In that way, if you are set, you can predict what the bowler is trying to bowl.”Iyer also spoke about the chal-lenges of adapting to different type of pitches -- like two months of IPL in UAE where it was low bounce and then the spongy tennis ball bounce Down Under
“I am really happy that they are coming up with a plan (against me),” Iyer said on the eve of the inconsequential third ODI when asked about the home team peppering him with short-pitched stuff.“I feel overwhelmed and take it as a challenge. But I thrive under pressure and it motivates me to go against them. I feel it (a short leg and leg gully) helps to take advantage and score more runs and make best use of it,” said India’s number four batsman.
Playing the short stuff is all about mind-set for Iyer along with the ad-justment while batting at the nets.“It’s all about mind-set that you need to adjust. How you need to place yourself on the wicket. Rather than bending down too much (during stance), you stand upright. It’s easier to pick up the short one.”“I have set a pattern for myself. Every time I play, I give myself a little bit of time and get set. If they come up with that field (for short ball), I get aggressive as well. Because that kind of field is easy to manipulate.”He agreed that confusion about the shot selection brought about his downfall against Hazlewood in the first game.
“I knew that short ball was going to come. I got in two frame of minds, thinking of pulling and at the same time I had this upper cut shot. I got stuck in between two thoughts and couldn’t play the shot.”In the second game, he just watched the ball and reacted accordingly.
“It was easy to do that rather than thinking about what the bowler is going to do. I like to give myself some time at the beginning. In that way, if you are set, you can predict what the bowler is trying to bowl.”Iyer also spoke about the chal-lenges of adapting to different type of pitches -- like two months of IPL in UAE where it was low bounce and then the spongy tennis ball bounce Down Under
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