New Delhi, Feb 24
In the 2025 Champions Trophy, India's middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer has made his place as a solid number four batter and former batting coach Sanjay Bangar believes the right-handed batter is always trying to get better and better with every outing.
At the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, Iyer continued his good run by making 56 runs off 67 balls and added 114 runs for the third wicket with Virat Kohli, who went on to hit an unbeaten hundred, as the partnership proved pivotal in India's chasing down 242 with 45 balls to spare.
"He is somebody who is very hardworking in the sense that he has gone through a lot of challenges. He has missed out playing Test cricket because of some injury concerns and knows the value of playing for the nation. And that's when, once he got that big performance in the World Cup, there was never a question that who is going to be India's number four."
"So, he is a player who is always trying to get better and better. As for his approach against the short ball, I am very happy that earlier he used to back off to the left side and hit towards the offside. But now he is happy to develop a method wherein if he feels that he has to be defensive, he is defensive. And when he wants to attempt the shots, there is a high percentage of shots which he has control over," said Bangar on JioHotstar.
Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former India batter, believes Iyer is someone who injects momentum into an ODI innings for the Rohit Sharma-led side. "There is one thing that separates him from the rest. In skating over thin ice, your safety is speed. This man gives you that speed. See, you look at the pace at which the scoreboard is moving- Pakistan, after the first 34 or 35 overs were 134 or 140-odd."
"First 10 overs, India was 60-70. And when this man comes, he puts on his skating shoes and is invariably changing gear from the first gear to the fourth gear or the fifth gear and then he comes back. So, he paces his inning. 67 balls, 56. It's not 95 balls, scoring a 50. So, there are qualities that Shreyas Iyer has."
- IANS