Subhayan Chakraborty in Adelaide
Shreyas Iyer on Thursday opened up on the change in his batting stance after scoring 61 in the second ODI against Australia at Adelaide Oval. Although India lost the game by two wickets, Shreyas’ open-chested stance was a talking point on social media, but India’s ODI vice-captain said that the upright stance was to tackle the steep bounce.
“This technique, which I’ve got lately, it’s not that I’ve changed over the time,” Shreyas said at the post-match press conference. “But since last year, I wanted to have an upright stance where the bounce is a little bit more than expected and based on that, I worked with my coach and we developed this new technique.”
He added: “It was kind of suiting me pretty well and the way I grew up playing, it was very much that I predominantly had an upright stance and I just was like, let’s go back to my old technique and see how it paces up. So yeah, I backed myself and then from there on, I started in the domestic and then till now, I’ve been continuing with the same stance.
“Even in Mumbai when we play on red (soil) wickets, where the bounce is a little bit extra than expected, I think it helps with the upright stance and you’ve got to keep chopping and changing every now and then because you don’t play on the same wickets. Whatever the wicket demands, you’ve got to change your stance accordingly and I think I’ve changed so many stances, I’m able to adapt anywhere at the moment.”
Shreyas stitched a crucial 118-run partnership with Rohit Sharma to steady India’s innings after the visitors lost Shubman Gill (9) and Virat Kohli (0) early. Following Rohit’s departure, Shreyas went on to add another 25 runs with Axar Patel before he was dismissed by Adam Zampa.
“Talking about the partnership (with Rohit), I think it was very crucial as you rightly mentioned and we were just saying that let’s build the momentum, because (Josh) Hazlewood was bowling amazingly, and the ball was seaming in and out, it wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, especially at the start,” said Shreyas, adding: “So we just wanted to have an attacking approach at the start but at the same time, it wasn’t easy to score runs, so we just decided to rotate the strike as much as possible and see to it that we come to a total where we feel that we can charge on the bowlers.”
Before coming to Australia, Shreyas played one red-ball game against Australia A in Lucknow followed by three 50-over matches against the same outfit in Kanpur. He said that playing the India A series helped him gain confidence after last featuring for India in the Champions Trophy final in March.
When asked whether the gaps between ODI series and coming into the set-up and scoring runs is a challenge, the Indian middle-order batter said: “I personally feel there’s no challenge. It’s just about adapting to the conditions and we keep training here and there and also it’s important that we maintain our intensity outside the field.
“We’ve got to be match-prepared and when we step onto the field, at the back of the mind, you need to have that, you know, scores, especially the confidence, that sort of confidence you get from domestic cricket and lately, coming into this tournament, I played India A-series matches as well. So, that gave me an immense boost coming here and obviously, you’ve just got to back yourself in such crucial games where you know that you’ll be challenged by the best and when the best are there, you’ve got to give your best.”
Shreyas has taken an indefinite break from red-ball cricket due to back issues. His place in the Nagpur ODI against England earlier this year was not confirmed. Only an injury to Virat Kohli ensured he played that game where he scored 59. Now, he is the ODI vice-captain. Acknowledging his struggles to recover from the grind of red-ball cricket, for the first time in public, Shreyas explained: “When you play domestic, you get a lot of confidence when you come to the international circuit because there are runs behind you. And obviously the expectation is that you will play 100 per cent. But it was a little bit of a helter-skelter. And now look, it’s not in my hands. Whatever it is, I will go to the ground. The performance is in my hands.
“By God’s grace, I got that opportunity and I maximised that opportunity. And after that, I kept playing continuously in the Champions Trophy, then in the IPL. And then, when I came to the red ball, I found out that when I field more than a few overs, my intensity goes down. And the intensity that has to be maintained at international level, will not match. I knew that. So according to that, I took that decision (to take a break from red-ball cricket) and conveyed my message. But in ODIs, you know that you will get rest the next day and you can recover. So based on that, I made that decision.”
India will face Australia in the third ODI on Saturday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
