IPL has blown me away: Mel Jones
M21: DD vs MI – Man Of The Match – Shreyas Iyer 3:44 8,994 Views Chants of ‘Delhi Delhi’ echoed at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium as the Delhi Daredevils cantered to a comprehensive win over the Mumbai Indians and ended their nine-match losing streak at their home ground. The player who led them to the momentous win was the 20-year old Shreyas Iyer. In his first season playing in the Indian Premier League, the youngster from Mumbai, who was contributing vital runs in the previous matches too, converted his innings into a match-winning performance.
Speaking to iplt20.com after his team’s victory against MI, the youngster said, “It is a really, really good feeling to break the jinx of losing home games and I am really happy with the performance of the team today.”The performance came on the back of a lot of painstaking work put in by both - the lad and his coach.
Instrumental in Iyer’s success is DD’s assistant coach, Pravin Amre, who has been grooming him since he was a 13-year old. Amre, who has shaped quite a few batting careers, is thrilled that the hard work was rewarded. Taking pride in his ward’s success like a parent would in his offspring’s, the coach said, “What we did yesterday has paid off.
”Speaking about the coach’s contribution in his success, Iyer said, “He has really been helping me throughout the tournament. Before every match we practice some techniques and skills which have been helpful.”The pair were relentlessly going over the techniques and strategies for over an hour under the scorching Delhi sun at the Kotla on the previous day.
The session was broken into smaller parts where they carefully worked on different aspects of batting. The coach began by giving practice to negotiate short balls. Explaining the reason for that drill, Amre said, “In the previous game he got out to a short ball, so I knew that they will target him on that.
I wanted him to initially leave the ball and be there, because that’s what is very important. He is now at an age when there will be the urge to go after every ball, which is not necessary. He should wait for the ball to come in his area.
The ball will come in his zone and only at that time he should bat (play his strokes). Today if you see, he left a couple of short balls and after he settled down, he went after the balls (in his arc).”They had specifically practiced watching the short ball through to the wicket-keeper’s gloves as well.
“For me watching the ball is more important, because sometimes when it’s a short ball he doesn’t watch and goes for the shot. So I just wanted him to watch that short ball carefully,” Amre explained on the finer points he had asked his ward to work on. Speaking about other insights given by the coach during the extended session, Iyer said, “At the start he just asked me to leave the ball.
Because if I commit to playing shots, I might not time (them well) at the start. So he asked me to get set and give myself the chance to charge at the bowler later on.”Discussing the move to ask Iyer to open the innings, Amre said, “In the practice matches he had batted at No 3 and in one match he got a hundred.
In that particular game, we were zero for two in the first over when he went in to bat and from there he got a hundred. So everybody was convinced he can play the new ball also.”“I really wanted Shreyas to do well simply because he has never opened before.
I had that confidence that he can open in this particular format and so I convinced my head coach that he will do the job for our team.”Speaking about being given the role of an opener, Iyer said, “At the moment I am really enjoying opening the innings. And in the practice matches I was batting at No 3 which is quiet like opening.
So it’s not a problem for me at the moment.”Asked about his reaction when he was told that he would open, the stylish young batsman said, “I was really happy because I got the opportunity to take on the bowlers. It was difficult at the start to face the new bowlers, but I am always up for challenges.
”Speaking about Iyer’s match-winning 83 against MI, Amre explains the plan was for the batsman to bat long. He said, “To be honest, I was angry with him until yesterday because in the last match he got 31 runs and then got out. If he would have been there (longer) in the last match, we would have got an addition 25 odd runs.
And today that happened; we reached 190 even though after ten overs we had just 65 runs. In the last ten overs we managed to score 125 and that could happen because there was a batsman at the crease who was set. If you see, it was the partnership between JP Duminy and Shreyas that set-up the game.
”So what was the advice that Amre had given Iyer for the crucial first six overs? “I am just pushing him hard; I am asking him to be there till the eighth over. Once you go in as an opener you get that tendency to focus on only six overs; you go there and play your shots and get as many runs as you can. But I think I was pushing him to (be there) for two more overs.
”Iyer too has taken his coach’s lessons well. “Well, I think if I bat till the 15th over I can get the team to a good total which can help the team win,” he added..
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