Shreyas Iyer Desperate To Bowl, Reveals Coaches Stopping Him To Do So

While Team India are desperate to have some part-time bowlers in their ranks, middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer has stated that he has been longing to play that role for a long time.

The Mumbai India star has bowled over 150 overs in competitive cricket including 7.3 overs in international cricket. While he has yet to pick up a wicket in international cricket, he has 10 wickets in the domestic circuit. Earlier this year, he bowled one over during the Ahmedabad Test against Australia. It was the same Test in which he suffered a back injury and was sidelined for almost six months.

Before that, he bowled one over against Sri Lanka in the Thiruvananthapuram ODI in January this year while last year, he bowled just two deliveries against South Africa in the Cuttack T20I. Speaking after the fifth T20I against Australia on Sunday (December 3), the India star said that while he is desperate to roll his arms for the team, he has been advised not to do so due to his injury woes.

“I have been longing to bowl, but the strength and conditioning coaches, they are right ‘now you are not going to bowl for some time’. That’s the sad part of it,” Shreyas was quoted as saying on Jio Cinemas after the match.

Shreyas Iyer impresses with bat:

Shreyas Iyer starred with the bat in the fifth T20I to help India beat Australia by 6 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Asked to bat, India were reeling at 97 for 5 before Iyer’s half-century helped the hosts post a 150-plus total. Iyer scored 53 runs off 37 balls with the help of 5 fours and 2 sixes. India finished their innings on 160 for 8.

The bowlers then restricted Australia to 154 for 8. Ben McDermott scored a quickfire fifty, smashing 54 runs 36 balls with the help of 5 sixes but it was not enough for Australia to end the series with a win. The visitors needed 10 runs in the final over bowled by Arshdeep Singh but could only manage 3 runs.