Is Shreyas Iyer on a slippery slope? The question has to be asked. There doesn’t seem to be imminent danger with regard to losing his place in the Test squad. But it is learnt that the message has been conveyed to him in no uncertain terms by the people concerned –
read, selectors and team management – that he needs to do better in red-ball cricket.
Over the last one year, Iyer’s Test form has headed south. In five Tests during this period – three against Australia at home and two in South Africa – he has scored 83 runs at an average of 11.85. There’s only one index for selection in the Indian team, which is performance. And for the moment, runs have dried up from his bat in the longer format.
A tally of five Tests is a small sample size for a player who made a roaring start to his red-ball international career. He was seen as a long-term replacement for Ajinkya Rahane at No. 5. But as the degree of difficulty increased, Iyer struggled. His weakness against the short ball was exposed and opponents started taking advantage of it.
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The weakness has seemingly created a mental block, which was evident during the recently concluded Test series in South Africa. His dismissal in the second innings at Centurion was a case in point. He was caught on the crease to start with, before tentatively pushing out to a nip-backer from Marco Jansen. An inside edge took the ball on to the stumps. In the first innings of the second Test at Newlands, Iyer, once again, was tentative with his footwork and iffy with his defensive prod, against a length ball from Nandre Burger. Yet again, it felt like he was expecting a short ball, while the bowler did him in with a fuller delivery. The selectors are keeping an eye on the five-Test series in Australia later this year, and the nature of Iyer’s dismissals didn’t go down well with them.
Iyer will be playing the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai against Andhra from Friday. It will provide him with an opportunity to have some much-required red-ball match practice before the series against England. Has he been told by the selectors to get back to domestic cricket before the bigger tests ahead? When RevSportz asked this to a top official of the Mumbai Cricket Association, his reply was: “No comment.”
Some reports suggest Iyer was given the option to choose between the Ranji Trophy and India A’s game against England Lions, and he chose the former. But the fact of the matter is that Iyer’s Test career might hit a road bump if he doesn’t learn to put a price tag on his wicket, something that the selectors and the Indian team management expect from him.
As far as his improvement against the short ball is concerned, Iyer needs to accept his shortcomings and work on his weaknesses. This was something that Mohinder Amarnath did in the early 1980s, eventually becoming one of the best players against short-pitched bowling in the process. Amarnath’s initial adjustment was to open his stance, and he hooked everything that was above his left shoulder. He avoided the deliveries that flew above his right shoulder. He was also courageous enough to take blows from the fearsome West Indies pace quartet.
Iyer, on the contrary, seems to be in denial. Only a couple of months ago, the 29-year-old took exception to a question from a reporter about his apparent weakness against the short ball. “Troubled me?” he asked, before adding: “Have you seen how many pull shots I have scored, especially that have gone for four?”
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel, however, is far from impressed. And they have options for the middle order. Ajinkya Rahane is expected to be a regular in the Ranji Trophy this term before playing the IPL. Cheteshwar Pujara is fresh from a Ranji double-hundred. There’s a school of thought that Rinku Singh can become a good long-form player with proper hot-housing, while Rajat Patidar, too, has some admirers.
Iyer needs to perform. Else, he will fall by the wayside.
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