CHENNAI: Shortly after Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings on April 30 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Ricky Ponting, the head coach of the winning team, was posed a series of questions about Shreyas Iyer's batting. And with good reason.
Right from the beginning of the season, Iyer had taken everyone by storm, dispatching bowlers, pacers in particular, all across the park. What made many sit up and take notice was how still and in zone Iyer was while taking on fast bowlers, especially when they bowl short at him. While his overall strike rate of 174.7 is the best he has had in ten years of IPL, Iyer smashed fast bowlers at 186.27 — 285 off the 435 runs he has made in 12 games came against pace.
So it was no wonder when Ponting was asked if he had worked with Iyer in this regard. The Australian, beaming with pride, gave a straight answer. "I’ve had nothing to do with that," Ponting had said, before going into detail on his observations. "You guys will see how his stance has evolved. He's opened his stance up a little bit. He's getting his right eye around more to the release point of the ball. And with his shoulders being open, he's being able to create some more access to the ball when the ball is back in towards his body. So that's stuff that he's all worked out himself.
"And we're still working on it pretty much every day. There are little things that he needs to do. Because it is such a drastic move that he's done. He's got to make sure that everything is in the right position and all his movements are syncing up really well," he added.
While Iyer kicked off the season with a sensational 97 against Gujarat Titans, making everyone go 'wow', the signs were there even before during the home ODI series against England in February. Iyer — back in the Indian team after a long gap — made the most of the last minute opportunity, thanks to Virat Kohli's sore knee, with a counter-attacking fifty. He followed it up with another half-century in Ahmedabad before playing a crucial role in India's title-winning Champions Trophy campaign.
Unlike the past, Iyer had put away the forward press, his stance had been tweaked and the Mumbai batter held his shape against fast bowlers while making use of the crease. These are some of the many things Iyer had worked on along with his long-time coach and confidante Pravin Amre. They knew runs were never an issue. Iyer, after all, was one of the star performers for India during the 2023 ODI World Cup.
"It was more fine-tuning about things, particular work. He was not comfortable, then our job was there to work on him, to make him comfortable. But he was always mentally strong, and he was always a confident lad. I think that's a special quality he had," Amre told this daily. "(His confidence) was there from the beginning. You want to work on batting skills. We definitely work on those. These are his natural abilities of confidence and mental toughness. What I like about him is the leadership qualities. I think that's also very important. Last year, he won the IPL. This year, he's doing well for the new team also. That's a remarkable, I would say, change in his behaviour and attitude. And as a leader, he's doing well," he added.
Iyer, despite getting injured in his finger on Saturday, took part in the clash against Rajasthan Royals (he had to sit out the fielding innings) as Punjab Kings inched closer towards a play-off spot with a 10-run win. Amre is pleased to see Iyer's development as a leader which in all likelihood will make him the first IPL captain to lead three different franchises into the play-offs.
Even as the IPL play-off race is on, there have been murmurs about Iyer getting back into the Test team for the England tour especially with the recent retirement of Virat Kohli. There is a chance that KL Rahul might move down to No 4, but with Devdutt Padikkal injured and out of action for the next few weeks, Iyer might be in contention for a specialist middle-order spot along with the likes of Karun Nair. Although Iyer and Amre have predominantly worked on his white-ball batting — there was little time in the calendar for them to do so — the former Mumbai coach believes he has the temperament to succeed in England. "One-dayers, we know that he was doing extremely well at No 4, I think his contribution is immense. But red-ball also, if you remember, he got a 100 on Test debut in Kanpur. And in red-ball also, he got a very good strike rate. I think that's very important. And yes, he has become more mature now. He has such a temperament that he knows how to perform according to the situation. I am sure he will adapt to that also (if he gets a chance)," said Amre.
For now, however, the focus will be on the remaining IPL games as Iyer would want to stamp his authority as a batter and become the first captain to lead two different teams to glory.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 219/5 in 20 ovs (Wadhera 70, Iyer 30, Shashank 59 n.o; Tushar 2/37) bt Rajasthan Royals 209/7 in 20 ovs (Jaiswal 50, Suryavanshi 40, Jurel 53; Brar 3/22, Omarzai 2/44).
