Shreyas Iyer must channelize anger to help India's 'awful' batting unit overcome woes in ENG vs IND 4th T20I

It will be imperative for Shreyas Iyer to channelize his frustration and focus on his batting to help India solve their batting woes vs ENG.

Shreyas Iyer isn’t a happy man at all. The new India cricket team T20I skipper is yet to win a match since taking over the reins from Suryakumar Yadav. First, the Iyer-led team suffered a historic series loss to Ireland, as they were whitewashed by the minnows. Next, they suffered two back-to-back defeats at the hands of England, throwing the prospects of winning a series out of the window. To make matters worse, Iyer has won just 1 out of 12 games that he has captained in the recent past, a terrible record that will surely be bothering him.

Iyer’s India lost the ENG vs IND 3rd T20I by a record 125-run margin, making it the biggest defeat for the Men in Blue in T20Is. Such was the impact of the loss that Shreyas had dubbed the team’s performance as atrocious and their batting as awful. Now, India find themselves in a must-win situation, needing victories in both the remaining matches in order to save face. And for them to do so, it is imperative for an frustrated Shreyas Iyer to step up and start delivering more consistently with the bat.

Shreyas Iyer needs to start firing

Since commencing his reign as the Indian T20I captain, Shreyas has scored 123 runs in five matches. In two innings, he registered single-digit scores (3 vs IRE, 5 vs ENG in 3rd T20I), and three double-digit scores in the remaining games (10 vs IRE in 2nd T20I, 68 vs ENG in 1st T20I and 37 vs ENG in 2nd T20I). Playing at the crucial number 4 position, it is extremely important for Iyer to be more consistent with the bat, especially since the top-order comprising the openers and the number 3 have struggled to fire in the ongoing series.

But as a captain, Shreyas cannot allow the frustration over the team’s performance get to his head and affect his batting. Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik mirrors this opinion, and noted that the Indian team will look different when he bats well, just like how it happens when he does so for Punjab Kings (PBKS).

“You could see how disgruntled, a little bit upset he was, and he must be angry, understandably so, but knowing Shreyas Iyer, he has to come back because he is such a key member in that batting unit, that if he scores, the team looks different, as well have seen with PBKS (Punjab Kings). He is such a critical component to this batting order as well,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Talking more about Iyer’s anger, one has to understand that he is under immense pressure already, especially after he took over the reins of the team from a T20 World Cup-winning captain. To make matters worse, India’s batting has been hapless so far in the last 5 T20Is. It peaked in the ENG vs IND 3rd T20I where five batters were dismissed within the powerplay and the team was dismissed for just 76 runs. No wonder Shreyas Iyer decided to use the term awful, looking visibly frustrated after the loss.

“Yes, India did not bat well. Probably one of the worst batting performances in a long time. But it was interesting, maybe odd, you can say, for the captain to come quite hard at the batting unit. He used the word atrocious to describe their batting, he used the word awful as well,” Karthik said.