'Troubled me?': Shreyas Iyer's emphatic response on 'short ball' problems shuts down critics- WATCH

Shreyas Iyer's weakness against short ball is a chink in his amour that the opposition team looks to exploit whenever he comes on to the crease. In the ODI World Cup 2023, the fast-paced delivery of the sort has apparently troubled him on occasions, and against England he got out on a short ball, inviting the attack by sceptics. Iyer answered his naysayers by playing a scintillating knock of 82 runs against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede stadium on Thursday.

3 things you need to know

• Team India defeated Sri Lanka by a massive margin of 302 runs
• Mohammed Shami was adjudged the man of the match for taking a 5-fer
• Team India remains the only undefeated side in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 after 7 matches

Also Read | CWC 2023: Mohammed Shami gets emotional - WATCH

India vs Sri Lanka CWC 2023: Shreyas Iyer addresses the Short Ball frailties

Following the culmination of match number 33 of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023- India vs Sri Lanka- Shreyas Iyer addressed the media's query regarding the problems he encountered against short ball in the ongoing World Cup 2023. Contrary to the popular understanding, Iyer did not believe that the delivery had troubled him. Rather he brought up the amount of boundaries he has hit on the ball. He reasoned his dismissal on the short ball by highlighting that the attack also brings in risk.

“Troubled me?” he said. “Have you seen how many pull shots I’ve scored, especially that have gone for four? If you’re trying to hit a ball, you’re bound to get out anyway, irrespective of if it’s a short ball, if it’s overpitched. If I get bowled two or three times, you all would say, ‘he can’t play an inswinging ball, he can’t play a cut if the ball is seaming’.

Iyer hits out at the media for spreading the word about his frailties against short ball.

“We as players, we are bound to get out on any sort of deliveries. You guys have created that mahaul outside that ‘he can’t play a short ball’, and I feel that people are picking that up every now and then and it plays on your [the media’s] mind regularly, and you keep working on that.”

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IND vs SL CWC 2023: Shreyas Iyer on the bouncy nature of Wankhede pitch

Shreyas scored a blistering 82 against Sri Lanka and kept the scoring rate at a high when the wickets were falling at regular intervals. He further put light on the nature of the Wankhede pitch and made it known that the bounce is more than usual here and he was able to handle that today and has been handling it throughout his career.

“Coming from Mumbai, especially from Wankhede where the bounce is pretty much even, here it bounces way more than any other pitches,” he said. “I’ve played the majority of my games here, so I know how to tackle it. It’s just that when I go to hit some shots you are bound to get out and sometimes it may work, sometimes it may not, and the majority of the times it hasn’t worked for me, maybe that’s the reason you think it’s a problem for me, but in my mind I know there’s no problem.”