{"id":11970,"date":"2023-10-29T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/?p=11970"},"modified":"2023-10-19T17:06:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T11:36:26","slug":"india-versus-bangladesh-shreyas-iyer-has-solved-indias-no-4-problem-and-his-approach-is-different-from-yuvraj-singhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/2023\/10\/29\/india-versus-bangladesh-shreyas-iyer-has-solved-indias-no-4-problem-and-his-approach-is-different-from-yuvraj-singhs\/","title":{"rendered":"India versus Bangladesh: Shreyas Iyer has solved India\u2019s No. 4 problem, and his approach is different from Yuvraj Singh\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While experts were worried about the No.4 slot, captain Rohit Sharma had faith in Shreyas Iyer’s ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Couple of weeks before the World Cup, Rohit Sharma was explaining to this newspaper about the \u2018hawaa\u2019, the atmosphere, around the No.4 spot in Indian cricket in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEver since the last ODI World Cup, it has followed us. And perhaps it was a problem during Virat (Kohli) and (Ravi) Shastri\u2019s time, but I can speak confidently for us (Rohit and\u00a0Rahul Dravid), that it hasn\u2019t been an issue at all,\u201d Rohit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indian skipper wasn\u2019t losing sleep about the crucial batting slot because he knew there was a capable batsman who would be back by the time the World Cup began. He was in a race to get fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have\u00a0Shreyas Iyer. It\u2019s just that due to his injury, and a couple of players we tried didn\u2019t grab the opportunities, the \u2018hawaa\u2019 once again returned but since I knew Shreyas would be back, I had no sleepless nights over it. He has been perfect for us,\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday afternoon, a couple of Indian batsmen Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan batted in the nets in\u00a0Pune, the bowling coach Paras Mhambrey had a word with the media, and the Indian unit dispersed after optional practice. Mhambrey\u2019s chat revolved around the immediate future of\u00a0Ravichandran Ashwin\u00a0and Mohammad Shami, and the mind went to how Shreyas has killed all the pre-Asia Cup talk: how Suryakumar hasn\u2019t taken that spot, how India had to try\u00a0Axar Patel\u00a0there. All that narrative is now dead, courtesy Shreyas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s ODI middle order hasn\u2019t had a batsman like Shreyas in a long while. Someone with the game and the mandate to counterattack from the first ball. Perhaps, a young\u00a0Suresh Raina\u00a0(circa 2011 World Cup) to an extent. The No.4 as\u00a0Yuvraj Singh\u00a0played it so greatly was of a different timbre; he could make a match, play the situation, gather runs at the start before forcing the rival team to go on a leather hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iyer plays it differently; he goes after the bowling from pretty much get-go. Like he did against Pakistan in the Asia Cup after a flurry of wickets within a couple of overs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In those situations, Yuvraj would go slow as he knew the team\u2019s chances would brighten if he stayed. Iyer also plays the situation but his reading and role is different; he counterattacks, knowing that if the tide shifts, then the danger will fade. If he gets out, as he did against Australia, slapping a wide one to cover,\u00a0KL Rahul\u00a0is behind him to drop anchor. In that aspect, Iyer\u2019s counter-attacking fury is balanced by Rahul\u2019s calm composure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE FROM 2023 ODI WORLD CUP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rohit might have slept well, knowing Shreyas was coming back, but it wasn\u2019t an easy time for the man himself. A bulged slip-disc had required surgery and he was
out for a few months. Such was the untimeliness and extent of the problem that the friends and family would suggest divine interventions \u2014 like a puja \u2014 to ward off ill luck. Shreyas is superstitious. In the past, he would pat the same stray dog in his old neighbourhood before leaving for every game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iyers are a god-fearing middle-class family. The senior Iyers, Santhosh and Rohini, are a delightful Mangalorean couple \u2013 jovial, feet firmly on the ground,
and full of stories. They still live in an old middle-class suburb in Worli and the mother, in particular, is a vivid storyteller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his teenage years, Shreyas went through a lengthy patch of poor form and things came to a head once in the living room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou remember Santosh, he came and sat on that couch. He was about to cry,\u201d Rohini said during a previous interaction with this newspaper at her home.
Santhosh then fills in more details: how he suggested to Shreyas to stop cricket as it was affecting him mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut he got angry and said, \u2018Papa, how can you even say that?\u201d Santhosh recalled. Santhosh brought in a sports psychologist Mugdha Bavare, who conducted sessions with the teenager to turn away the blues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The living room wall is adorned with pictures of deities from Telengana\u2019s Tirupati to Thiruchendur in Tamil Nadu. Rohini talked about the famous morning wake-up song for many Tamilians \u2013 MS Subbulakshmi\u2019s Vishnu Sahasranama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we were chatting, a baby tortoise peeped out of a small basket and began to crawl. \u201cThe kids \u2013 Shreyas and his younger sister- bring all sorts of animals into the house; I have to end up taking care of it,\u201d Rohini said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of weeks before the World Cup, one ran into Shreyas. That tortoise came up in the chat. \u201cAh, that died. No more. Most of the out-of-ordinary animals you must have seen are gone now,\u201d says Shreyas, who has recently moved onto a bigger home and lives by himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While experts were worried about the No.4 slot, captain Rohit Sharma had faith in Shreyas Iyer’s ability. Couple of weeks before the World Cup, Rohit Sharma was explaining to this newspaper about the \u2018hawaa\u2019, the atmosphere, around the No.4 spot in Indian cricket in recent years. \u201cEver since the last ODI World Cup, it has …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1140,15683,10091,13213],"class_list":["post-11970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-news","tag-bangladesh","tag-shreyas-iyer","tag-sports","tag-yuvraj-singh"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11970"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11972,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11970\/revisions\/11972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}