For Shreyas Iyer , a nearly two-hour troubleshooting session at his home with former India batting coach Abhishek Nayar proved to be a technically defining moment, helping him end a 67-match wait for his maiden T20I hundred. The result was a brutal 43-ball 102* featuring 10 fours and six sixes, which powered India to an eight-wicket win over the West Indies in the first T20I in Lucknow on Tuesday. Iyer had noticed a few chinks in his technique during India’s gold-winning run at the recent Asian Games, but the session with Nayar helped him iron them out.
Because we have worked and been together for so long, “He just felt it was certain,. “…because he had just travelled (back from Japan) and had to catch a flight after that. Because you can’t make technical changes without actually practising them,” he said, so, we did that when we met, just so that he understands the feeling of doing it,. Because we’ve been together for so long, that understanding makes it easier for me to help him and for him to understand what I’m trying to say,” he said. Because an international hundred is always special, i’m just happy that things turned out the way they did.
Nayar revealed that the two worked on three basic aspects but admitted that he did not expect such a quick turnaround.
“One of the things he was feeling at the end of the Asian Games was something to do with his technique, where he felt he wasn’t generating as much force while hitting and had doubts about being able to clear the boundary,” Nayar told PTI in an exclusive interaction on Wednesday. “So, it was more about a couple of hours of sitting and talking, and making sure he felt really good about his initial movement and, before the ball is bowled, had the feeling of being able to hit the ball,” Nayar added. I think that conversation with him helped me a lot in my performance (vs WI),” he said. So, creating that momentum and rhythm was essential at the start of the innings, and it worked out pretty well,” Iyer said. So, it only made sense for me to go to his place,” Nayar said. “In a lot of ways, it was about a slight change in the grip from a technical perspective, getting his initial movement right, and tactically understanding how to overcome bowlers,” he said. “Obviously, I didn’t expect it to turn out so well, but all credit to him for being able to execute it and follow through on it,” Nayar added. Nayar said practising what they discussed was equally critical. Nayar said the tactical aspects of batting have been a major point of discussion between them. “In the recent past, a lot of our discussions have been very tactical, and it’s always been about how we can overcome certain situations,” he said. Whether or not it happens is a completely different story,” Nayar said. Nayar said Iyer was not happy with the amount of force he was generating with the bat, especially during the Asian Games. “A lot of what happened in the Asian Games was that he felt he couldn’t generate the kind of force he wanted while trying to hit the ball, and he felt his bat swing wasn’t as clean as it had been in the past,” Nayar added.
It was more of a technical and tactical thing. We did a bit of work on his grip and his movements that he speaks about, to get flow and momentum into his batting. And then, obviously, there were a few tactical nuances as to how he can overcome certain bowlers and situations. In a video shared by the BCCI, Iyer also spoke about the chat with Nayar. “I had a brief interaction with Abhishek Nayar during that period when we were talking about cricket. Iyer has worked with Nayar through Mumbai’s domestic setup, Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, and the national team setup in the past. “…those are the three things we addressed, along with the normal cricket and mindset discussions that you have in general. “You can’t just talk and get this right. You obviously have to demonstrate it. “But I just felt it had been a while since he had an actual technical difficulty. Thinking about it in terms of performance, that’s not how we were trying to address it. It was about giving him feedback on how he could clear the boundary rope and have the confidence to do so before he played that shot. “It’s not that he doesn’t have the ability. “It was just about giving him that feeling, and that’s the kind of cricketer he is. Nayar hoped that Iyer would continue to focus on the process. “He is going to Ranchi from Lucknow, which may or may not be a very different pitch. “You just don’t want to follow that up by saying, ‘I want to score another. You want to follow that up by saying, ‘I want to focus on the same process and hopefully let the results take care of themselves,'” Nayar added.
“The key that I observed in my batting was setting myself before the delivery of the ball, and that worked perfectly. For a cricketer, the important thing is feeling, before the ball is bowled, that he can tonk it out of the park.
