During an optional training session, notable absentees included the top-order trio of captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill, with the focus squarely on Iyer’s struggles with short balls.The team’s renowned bowling attack, which delivered a commanding 100-run victory over England recently, opted for a well-deserved rest.
Sitting at the summit of the World Cup points table with a nearly guaranteed spot in the semifinals, Rohit and his team are keen on refining their performance by addressing areas of concern.
Iyer’s difficulties with short-pitched deliveries and his quest for substantial scores in the crucial number four position have become a significant focal point for both the team management and the player himself. This was evident in Iyer’s approach during the training session on Tuesday.
Shreyas Iyer – India’s rock in the middle order
The right-handed batter, who is back to his homeground that he shares with skipper Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav and Shardul Thakur in this Indian squad for the World Cup, faced plenty of short balls from throwdown specialists in the session that lasted for nearly two hours under the sun.
While he did face some local net bowlers to begin with, the focus point of the session soon turned into having Iyer facing innumerable short balls hurled at him by India’s throwdown specialists D Raghavendra, the left-handed Sri Lankan Nuwan Seneviratne and batting coach Vikram Rathour along with a few others.
Having long batting stints on either side of the strip on which India will take on Sri Lanka, Iyer was also seen sporting a chest guard while he kept on pulling and hooking the short balls.
To his credit, Iyer responded deftly with powerful strikes, sending the ball into the stands or clearing the ropes mostly.
Towards the end, Iyer also had India head coach Rahul Dravid feeding him throwdowns and for a change, the batting great also fed a few deliveries to Iyer to drive while the bowling coach Paras Mhambrey watched from a distance.
Also among the throwdown bowlers for Iyer was the team’s fielding coach T Dilip, whose famous award ceremonies for the best fielder after every match have become a unique feature that fans have been glued to.
Iyer fell to the short ball in Dharamsala as well as the last game against England in Lucknow.
Apart from Iyer’s strenuous effort, all-rounder Shardul Thakur also had a long batting session while the others in Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul and Suryakumar had a regulation hit in the nets.
All-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja did more batting practice than bowling.
(With PTI Inputs)