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Shreyas Iyer finally ended his long wait for a maiden T20 International century in spectacular fashion. Shreyas Iyer smashed an unbeaten 102 off just 43 balls against the West Indies in the first T20I in Lucknow, helping India register a stunning eight-wicket victory on October 6.
The Indian captain’s explosive knock included 10 fours and six sixes. His maiden T20I century came after a major technical correction in Iyer’s batting, and its credit goes to Abhishek Nayar. Amid this, Rohit Sharma should have led India till 2027 World Cup, says Wasim Jaffer.
Shreyas Iyer had lost confidence in his six-hitting ability
Before the ongoing five-match T20I series against the West Indies, Shreyas Iyer had noticed that he was not getting enough power into his shots and was not feeling confident about hitting big sixes.
Iyer realized that something was not quite right with his batting during India’s gold-winning campaign at the recent Asian Games 2027 in Japan. His shots were not carrying the same power, and he was finding it tough to clear the boundary with confidence.
And Iyer then met his longtime mentor and friend Abhishek Nayar at his Worli home in Mumbai. A nearly two-hour troubleshooting session with a former India batting coach at Iyer’s home in helped him find the missing confidence and make important changes to his technique. Amid this, "Sanju Samson is feeling insecure": EX-SRH batter makes massive claim after West Indies T20I failure.
Abhishek Nayar’s two-hour fix helps Shreyas Iyer smash maiden T20I century
During the long session, they worked mainly on Iyer’s grip and backlift. Nayar made some small technical changes to Iyer’s batting setup to generate more power and bring back his confidence while attacking the ball.
Abhishek Nayar was quoted as saying by the Times of India, "I went to meet him, and he was feeling that he wasn't getting the power to hit sixes. He wasn't feeling that he could hit a sixer. So, we spoke about some technical things and made some changes in batting.”
The current KKR head coach further added, “We spent two hours on his grip and backlift. I can't tell you what exactly, but I changed his grip and backlifted a little bit. Basically, I made a slight alteration to his grip, the initial movement, and his backlift. And then obviously a bit of tactical nuances as to how he can overcome certain bowlers and stuff.”
Abhishek Nayar shares crucial advice to Shreyas Iyer after maiden T20I century
The impact was visible almost immediately when Iyer walked out to bat against the West Indies in the first T20I. He looked confident from the beginning and attacked the bowlers without hesitation. Iyer's 43-ball unbeaten century in Lucknow showcased his powerful strokes.
However, Nayar does not want Iyer to put pressure on himself by chasing another century. As Iyer heads to Ranchi for the second T20I, the former coach just wants him to stay calm, trust the changes, and continue with the same approach that helped him to smash a stunning century.
Nayar added, “He is going to Ranchi from Lucknow, where the pitch may be very different.” I'm just happy that things turned out the way they did because an international hundred is always special. 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 try and focus on the same process, and hopefully the results deliver.”
