Shortcomings against short-pitched stuff continue to be a concern for Shreyas Iyer in spite of his overall impressive figures in limited-overs Internationals. In the just-concluded India-South Africa T20I series, what also appeared to be ailing Shreyas was a sudden loss of rhythm in spite of getting off to brisk starts. Batting at No.3, Shreyas finished with only 94 runs, averaging 23.50 at a strike rate of 123.68. Those numbers are anything but impressive.
Fortunately for India, that didn’t hurt them much as a collective effort of the bowling group and Dinesh Karthik’s pyrotechnics in the fourth T20I in Rajkot helped them restore parity in the series. But for Shreyas, his situation may not be ideal in India’s T20I scheme of things, especially with the return of Suryakumar Yadav. The T20 World Cup is scheduled in Australia later this year.
Coming back to the India fold with the two-match T20I series versus Ireland in Malahide beginning on Sunday, Suryakumar will not be easy to ignore if he scores runs. With the likes of captain Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and former skipper Virat Kohli set to occupy India’s top three slots, the spotlight will again be on who goes in to bat at No.4.
The toss-up could well be between Shreyas and Suryakumar.
Agreed, Shreyas has played more number of games (41) than Suryakumar (14) in the T20I format, but the latter is ahead both in terms of average and strike rate. Suryakumar averages 39 compared to Shreyas’s 34.73. When it comes to strike rate, that of Shreyas (139.35) isn’t bad. But Suryakumar’s (165.56) is even better.
“Shreyas’ struggles against the short ball has been bugging him since long. But when one talks about Surya, what stands out is his versatility,” former national selector Devang Gandhi told The Telegraph on Monday.
“Not just at No.4 or anywhere in the middle order, but Surya can fit in even as a No.3 and is also capable of performing a finisher’s role.”
Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration is the extra bounce in Australian pitches, which won’t be making Shreyas’ task any easier. Surya, on his part, is yet to play any international game in Australia, but Devang pointed out: “His improvisation skills are quite good.
“We saw how well he negotiated a bowler of Jofra Archer’s calibre (during India’s home T20Is versus England last year) even when dealing with the short ball.”
Head coach’s support
Shreyas, though, has the backing of India head coach Rahul Dravid, who categorically mentioned that no “knee-jerk” decisions would be taken in terms of team selection. “I think Shreyas, in the early part of the (South Africa) series on a couple of tricky wickets, showed a lot of intent and played really positively for us,” Dravid said.
“As you’ve seen, I don’t like judging people after one series or one game. And in this format, you’re going to have some good as well as some bad games,” Dravid added.
