How Shreyas Iyer redesigned his technique for the short ball – and how quicks can challenge him

The chatter did seem to have taken its toll on the batter: “You guys have created that mahaul [scenario] outside that he can't play a short ball, and I feel that people are picking that up every now and then and it plays on your mind regularly,” he said in 2023.

In January this year, he called the criticism “irritating” coming from “people, who haven’t faced 150 kmph bowling” and in February said “maybe I was typecast” (as someone with a short-ball weakness).

But for those tuning in to the IPL, or indeed those who watched the Champions Trophy and the England white-ball series that preceded it, that Shreyas appears to be a distant memory. All of a sudden, he seems to have unlocked a different side of his batting – one that welcomes the test of the short ball, and passes it with flying colours.

Read more: Shreyas Iyer flips the script to remind India of his star quality

In the first five innings of this IPL season, Shreyas has scored 250 runs, averaging 83.3 and striking at 208.3. His 20 sixes are second only to Nicholas Pooran’s 31, and in his last match his 82 off 36 would have been the highlight, if not for the truly brutal Sunrisers chase that followed.

He used to have one weakness the opposition could target. With that apparently out of the way, how can bowlers approach what now looks like a thankless task of restricting him?

How has Shreyas Iyer changed his approach to facing fast bowlers?

The most noticeable change he has made is in his stance at the batting crease, as highlighted by broadcast commentators during his knock against SRH.

Image credit: JioHotstar

This new stance was employed by Shreyas during the England series as well, and in fact, has been in use since the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last year.

The new stance (right) is markedly different from the old one in two key ways. One, Shreyas is more “open”, i.e. his front leg is out of the way, on the leg side. Two, his back lift is much higher and more angled towards point/gully. In action, he also waves the bat more vigorously before setting up to play.

Shreyas has also introduced a trigger movement as the bowler delivers the ball: he takes a significant backward step. As observed by Michael Clarke on commentary, this initially shifts his body weight onto the back foot, allowing him to then transfer momentum from back to front, into the ball, when hitting down the ground.

Take the example below, of a pull shot from last year’s IPL, and one from this season, both of which were hit for six.

Image credit:BCCI/IPL

The first clear difference is the position of his feet. By introducing that backward step, Shreyas plays from deeper in the crease, giving himself an extra half a second or so to pick the length – and if it is short, to avoid potentially getting rushed by the pace.

Another change is in his back foot. He seems to have made a conscious effort to firmly plant that foot on the ground (in general, not just for the pull shot). In this example from last year, the back foot leaves the ground even as he makes contact with the ball. Without that foot acting as an anchor or a stable base, it means he could potentially lose out on extra power.

Number three, and perhaps most crucial, is where he looks to play the ball. Prior to this year, Shreyas often rolled his wrists in an attempt to keep the ball down, in classical fashion: in the still from IPL 2024 (left), note how the bat face points right at square leg, on its way to closing. Compare that to this year, where he has looked to be more aggressive, keeping the bat face open to hit the ball higher, rather than keeping it down.

A similar clue for what he is attempting to do comes from his body position. In 2024, he used to stand upright, almost looking to get over the ball and smother the bounce. But in 2025, he leans back slightly more – a side effect of looking to hit the ball high, and long.

All these adjustments put together, it would seem, have been tailored towards improving his scoring ability against short-pitched bowling. To his credit, it has worked so far.

In IPL 2022, Shreyas averaged 39, and struck at 130 against deliveries shorter than the pacers’ good length area of 6-8m.

Shreyas Iyer vs pace bowling – shorter than 8m length

Last year, his average went up to 50.5, but the strike rate remained low, 127.8. These two seasons suggest that he wasn’t so much in danger of being dismissed by the short ball, but was being tied down – something that can sometimes end up harming a team more significantly in T20 cricket.

But this year, his first five innings have seen him strike at 197 against these deliveries, while averaging 65. It has been only 33 balls so far, but the signs are clear – he has become far more adept at turning shorter balls into scoring options.

Just like any other sport though, cricket is a game of trade-offs. The adjustments he has made have unlocked one run-scoring avenue, but could they have shut another one down?

Give-and-take: What is the price Shreyas Iyer pays for his new technique?

There were whispers of him now being vulnerable to the full delivery on the stumps, after Jofra Archer and Khaleel Ahmed knocked them back in consecutive innings.

But the Archer dismissal came after Shreyas tried, uncharacteristically, getting his front foot all the way outside leg stump and looking to muscle the ball over the off side. The Khaleel delivery was a peach of an inswinger from a left-armer to a right-handed batter, and would have done for many of the best.

His revamped technique has not just made Shreyas proficient at tackling shorter lengths, but also made him more leg-side dominant, in one specific way – six-hitting.

Shreyas Iyer – Boundaries against pace bowling (off side / leg side)