Ravi Shastri has advised Shreyas Iyer, who is likely to face a barrage of bouncers against Lucknow Super Giants, to play out short-pitched balls as he has the ability to score quickly later.
The Kolkata Knight Riders captain’s issues against short balls are getting exploited by the opponents more and more. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has shared his thoughts on the possible approach that could help Iyer tackle the short-ball threat.
Shreyas is the top run-getter for the Knight Riders in the IPL 2022 with 351 runs from 13 matches but he has only managed two fifty-plus scores in the season. Notably, he has been troubled by short-pitched bowling consistently. In the previous clash between KKR and LSG, Iyer was dismissed cheaply off a short delivery by Dushmantha Chameera.
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out, Shastri was confident that Iyer will be targeted with short balls by LSG pacers. He believes the 27-yr old has to find a way to play out the threat so he can explode against favourable bowling.
“Shreyas Iyer has to give himself time to make runs because the opposition will undoubtedly target him with the short ball. But he has to show his readiness against it. It’s okay if he can’t score for one or two overs because he can make up for it later, he has a wide array of shots,”
Shastri said.
Talking about how the Super Giants can tackle Andre Russell, Shastri said maintaining consistency is the key. He added that it is imperative bowlers do not lose their lines as the Jamaican powerhouse can cause a lot of damage in quick time.
“Oppositions might come in with about four gameplans for Russell. However, if it doesn’t work in the first five minutes, he can cause plenty of damage. So, consistency is the key against Russell. For instance, if you want to bowl yorkers in between his legs, keep at it,”
he added.
Andre Russell has been incredible for KKR in the ongoing season, scoring 330 runs at an average of 41 and strike rate of 182 while also bagging 17 scalps with the ball.
