Shreyas Iyer, a mainstay of the Indian batting occupying the crucial No.4 slot whose perceived weakness against the short-pitched delivery is being exploited by the Josh Hazlewoods and Pat Cummins’, says he is “overwhelmed” because he can sense the Australians are working on a plan to get him out.

“I definitely know that they’ve planned against me, so I’m really happy. At least they’re coming up with a plan against me to get me out.

“I feel very overwhelmed and take it as a challenge because, you see, I thrive under pressure. And also, it really motivates to go against them.

“They set attacking fields which really helps me to score runs, so I take advantage of that and I see to it that I make the best use of it,” Shreyas said during a virtual conference on the eve of the third and final ODI in Canberra.

“Overwhelmed” he might be, but in the first ODI, Shreyas looked clueless when Hazlewood dug it short. In the next, although Hazlewood couldn’t dismiss him, Shreyas didn’t look to be too comfortable against him and had even spooned one in the air which fortunately fell short of the close-in fielder.

“Look, no batsman, irrespective of how good and technically sound he is, likes facing a short ball bowled at 145-150kph,” former India wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta told The Telegraph.

“But yeah, in Shreyas’ case, he didn’t look to be too comfortable even in the IPL against the short ball. So he has to work it out and keep evolving.”

Shreyas, however, reasoned being in two minds when it came to his dismissal in the first ODI. “I knew the short ball was going to come, so I was in two minds. I was thinking of pulling and at the same time whether I should play the upper cut.

“I got stuck in between two shots. So maybe that’s the reason I got stuck in one place,” he said.

“In the second match, I was just like, look at the ball and react. It’s very easy to do that rather than think what the bowler is bowling.

“You can actually predict once you are set what the bowler is going to bowl. So I usually give myself time at the start and that’s what I did in the second match, and it worked out well,” Shreyas added.

He believes in making necessary adjustments in terms of mindset, especially when tackling extra and awkward bounce, also emphasising his focus on remaining aggressive in case of attacking field settings. “I feel it’s just the mindset which you need to adjust.

“I’ve been playing for so many years. Obviously, it’s my first time playing in Australia and on these wickets. We all know that the wickets here are bouncy and the bowlers are only going to bowl to you in the body area and the short balls are going to come to you.

“But rather than bending down too much, it’s really important that you stand upright and play the ball so that it’s easy to pick the short ones as well.

“I’ve set my patterns right from the start. Every time I play, I give myself a bit of time, get set and then take on the bowlers,” Shreyas explained.

Will that work in the coming games? Only time will tell.