Even though he looked in good touch, Shreyas Iyer eventually succumbed to his weakness of short ball against New Zealand.
India and New Zealand met in a thrilling World Cup 2023 encounter on Sunday at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala.
Chasing 274 runs, India got off to a quick start from Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. But the Kiwis rocked back in the game by dismissing both openers. Then, Virat Kohli and Iyer rebuilt the innings with their partnership of 52 runs in 49 balls before Iyer got out.
Shreyas Iyer was playing confidently, even attacking the Kiwi bowlers. He scored 33 runs in 29 balls and creamed 6 fours, including hitting a fierce pull shot to a fast bowl from Lockie Ferguson. However, New Zealand backed their plans of going short to Shreyas Iyer, and eventually, the India number 4 fell to a short ball from Trent Boult, caught at deep square leg after mistiming a pull shot.
This is one of the many dismissals of Shreyas Iyer to a short ball in the past couple of years as his weakness has been exposed and is now very well-known to all opponents in any format.
Some fans felt that Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid should ponder over dropping Iyer as opponents will continue to target him with short balls and bouncers.
Here are some reactions of fans on Shreyas Iyer getting out to a short ball once again:
Mohammed Shami took a five-wicket haul on his return to the side. Daryl Mitchell scored a century and Rachin Ravindra scored a half-century as New Zealand posted a par total of 273.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w/c), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
