"There were talks about me that I could not play a certain shot"- Shreyas Iyer says he wanted to prove everyone wrong for criticizing him for short ball issue

Shreyas Iyer has recently been promoted to India’s ODI vice-captaincy.

Indian Cricket Team batter Shreyas Iyer had a very struggling 2024, as after a brilliant ICC Cricket World Cup, he suffered a back injury and lost his Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) contract due to non-compliance with their directives. He lost his place in the ODI, test, and T20I teams as well.

However, he got a lease when he made his India return during the England series, scoring 181 runs in three matches with two fifties at an average exceeding 60 and a strike rate over 123. Then he was the leading run-getter for India with 243 runs in their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 win.

Not only for India, Shreyas Iyer shone in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well, leading the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to IPL 2024 win and then taking the Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the IPL 2025 final as captain.

On Tuesday (October 7), Shreyas Iyer received recognition for his performance in India’s Champions Trophy win at the CEAT Cricket Ratings Awards in Mumbai.

“It was a rollercoaster ride, and things looked in shambles and helter-skelter earlier. But I told myself to set a routine, discipline myself, and play domestic cricket. I went back to my time in Mumbai, played the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. I performed in all these tournaments, and they helped me boost my momentum and confidence heading into CT. Then I was lucky to have played in ODIs against England and stamp my authority there,” Shreyas said during the award ceremony.

Talking about his batting approach in ODIs, Iyer explained: “During the CT, I was in a position where I had to play ball to ball in the start and then put myself under pressure and charge against bowlers. We thought in Dubai, 250-300 was a winnable total. My job was to take the team to that total, and then after that, let us see what happens. Looking at the line-up, our bowlers, we had immense confidence that we would be able to defend. We were also confident of chasing.”

Recently, Shreyas Iyer took a break from red-ball cricket after his back issue flared up again after the first four-day match against Australia A. He is still available for white-ball games and was recently promoted to India’s ODI vice-captaincy for the Australia series.

“Had to challenge myself”- Shreyas Iyer on dealing with his short-ball issue

Shreyas Iyer also spoke about the challenges he faced while dealing with allegations that he struggles with short balls.

“Over the last two years, there were talks about me that I could not play a certain shot, and when I came back, I wanted to prove everyone wrong. I worked on myself, wanted to take on the bowlers, and it was just I had to challenge myself to put myself in that pressure situation to take on the bowlers. It is a matter of practice. The more you hit that shot, practice against difficult bowlers, the more confident you get,” Shreyas said.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.