Where does Shreyas Iyer fit in for India in T20? | India vs New Zealand 2021
When Shreyas Iyer came out to bat yesterday, India needed 21 runs off the last 20 balls to win against New Zealand in the first T20I at Jaipur. Suryakumar Yadav's wicket had just fallen, and Rishabh Pant was at the other end.
Two overs later, Shreyas Iyer was dismissed by Tim Southee for just 5 runs off 8 balls. India needed 10 off the last over. Required run-rate at his time of arrival: 6.3. Required run-rate at his time of departure: 10.0.
This is not an ideal situation to be in if you are Shreyas Iyer. This is also not an ideal position to be in if you are in charge of India's team management. If Shreyas Iyer cannot consistently score quickly in that position and time in the game, it is a misuse of him as a player as well as the available resources within the team.
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Any batsman can have a bad day. But is this particular case symptomatic of a much larger issue? What is Shreyas Iyer's optimal role in the team? Let's find out.
Where exactly does Shreyas Iyer bat at his best?
Here is a list of the top 10 batters in T20Is who have played the highest number of innings for their team at No. 3 in winning causes. While this may still include a few stats that throw deviations into the mix, it is the best we can do:
The stats indicate that ideally, successful No. 3 batters face 25-30 balls every innings and score at a rate of 125-135 on average.
Here's a similar list, but for batsmen playing at the No. 5 position:
Here there is an almost drastic difference. A successful No. 5 batter faces somewhere around 15-20 balls, but a much higher strike rate of above 135 on average.
Now that we have established two different requirements in these positions, which category does Shreyas Iyer belong in?
Using the IPL as the basis of his batting in T20, Iyer's career strike rate from 87 innings is 123. But in his early years, he started off as an opener and took time to get slotted in at a fixed position.
41 of his innings have come at No. 3, with 1134 runs at a strike rate of 125. He has also played 22 more innings at No. 4 and at a strike rate of 123. Only 3 of his IPL matches have required him to bat at No. 5, where he has made 110 runs at a strike rate of 130.
He is clearly an accumulator who needs a few balls at the start to get going, and therefore adds the most value to the team at No. 3 or No. 4.
Where has India used Shreyas Iyer?
However, in the 27 innings he has played for India in T20Is, Shreyas Iyer has played in every position between 3 and 6.
No. 4 is where he is most successful when it comes to runs scored, and No.5 is his least successful position in terms of strike rate. Yet, India have used him as a No. 5 the most, including in the last match against New Zealand.
The verdict
The fact that Shreyas Iyer takes a few balls to get started is not a bad thing, or the end of the world. However, it is a requisite for batters playing at No. 5 in T20s that they avoid doing precisely that.
Either Shreyas Iyer will suffer the same fate as Manish Pandey in T20s, or he'll become a finisher.
I think he should try to do the latter and for that he should bat in the middle order for whichever team he plays for in the IPL. At the moment, there's no clarity on his role.
In such a case, it is not worth asking him— a player who excels at playing classical stroke and is perfectly suited to Test and ODI formats— to change his play style. It doesn't make sense for India either, because India has batsmen at both positions who can do all that without having to make changes to their game.
This is not an indictment against Shreyas Iyer as a T20 batter. It is instead a proposal that his future chances should come at a position where he can maximize his potential and play to his strengths, instead of playing in a role that does not suit him.