Shreyas Iyer 3.0: From spin-hitter to modern T20 marauder

Shreyas Iyer is an anomaly in India's white-ball set up as he is the only player from the ODI squad who is not on the periphery of the country's T20 arrangements. Despite being the most discussed player in the opposition meeting ahead of a World Cup final, Shreyas - at the age of 30 - has been often overlooked from the T20 set up for quite some time now. He did feature in the bilaterals leading up to T20 World Cups in 2021 and 2022 but missed the bus on both occasions and has only featured in two T20I series since, both when the first-choice players were rested following an ICC tournament. His largely unremarkable T20 International career is now more recalled as a vestige of a bygone era of India's T20 cricket.

Shreyas broke into the IPL in 2015 for Delhi Capitals (Delhi Daredevils then) and won the best Emerging Player for that season. Initially he was looked upon as a good player of spin bowling but struggled against quality pace, especially from shorter lengths. The numbers also bore the same: only Virat Kohli and Krunal Pandya averaged more against spin than Shreyas' 81.66 between 2015 and 2017 and he scored them at a respectable rate of 138. In this period, 25 of his 28 dismissals came against pace as he averaged 22.48, and his scoring rate against pace fell to 124. Against short deliveries from seamers, Shreyas averaged only 26.40 and scored at 116. Despite this, he was also one of the above average boundary hitters in this period that put him above the likes of Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni, and KL Rahul among many others.

Shreyas - pace vs spin in IPL

The 2018-22 period saw him elevated to captaincy duties, first for Delhi and later for Kolkata Knight Riders, and this period saw him turn into a top-order batter with anchor tendencies. His average against pace improved by almost 75% from 22.48 to 38.51 without an uptick in strike-rate but there was also a severe drop in boundary percentages as he traded high-risk approach for more stability. Among the 32 batters who faced 500+ balls from pace in this period, only eight players averaged higher than Shreyas while his strike rate was fifth from the bottom.

His numbers against short balls also told a story. From an average of 26.40 against short deliveries in the 2015-17 period, his average rose to 42.41 in the next five years. Of the 42 batters to have faced at least 150 balls of shorter lengths, Shreyas attacked only 42.6% of the balls - the fewest - and this resulted in a strike-rate of 115, the third lowest.

Pravin Amre, Shreyas' personal batting coach as well that of Capitals' franchise spoke to Cricbuzz during IPL 2020, "It was a conscious decision taken a couple of years back. He had got out a few times pulling short-pitched deliveries. So, we decided that instead of playing the high-risk shot, he can use his height, rise and just blunt the ball down. A bowler can bowl a maximum of one or two bouncers. If he doesn't lose his wicket to that, he can maximize his scoring opportunities off the other deliveries, take advantage of his strengths."

The pull or its variants is a high risk - high reward shot, playing it increases your run scoring opportunities, but it could come at the cost you your wicket. Shreyas played 63 pull shots and got out six times playing it averaging 16.50 and his scoring rate read 157 - both lower than the ballpark figures for those shots and Shreyas' strike rate the lowest among the 45 batters to have attempted this shot at least 50 times.

Since the start of IPL 2024, Shreyas taken a more positive approach to short balls - rather than sidestepping the issue in front of him, he addressed it head on. He has been more supple with his feet movement unlike earlier times, where he would rest the weight on the back foot. He is also getting more side on to the short deliveries which put him in a better position to execute the pull shot, unlike in the past where he would open up the hip to get inside the line of the ball to dab it down to gaps using his height, or evade it if the ball is not within his reach.

The results are there to see. His average against short balls improved to 79 in IPL since 2024, the best among Indian batters and sixth best overall (50+ balls faced). He has attempted 40 pull shorts in this time frame, averaging 41 at a strike-rate of 205, both higher than the ballpark figures. In IPL 2025, he seems to have taken it a notch higher. He scored 51 runs off 21 short balls clearing the ropes five times, against tall and hit the deck bowlers like Prasidh Krishna, Kagiso Rabada, and Avesh Khan.

Shreyas vs shot balls in IPL

A similar change can be witnessed in Shreyas' ODI numbers for India. From averaging 31 at a strike rate of 104 against short balls from seam until December 2023, it reads 120 at a scoring rate of 140 in the last 15 months. The way he played Will O'Rourke in the Champions Trophy 2025 group game in Dubai underlined this. In the first ball of the 17th over bowled by O'Rourke, he pulled a short delivery over wide mid for a four and two balls later when the bowler pitched it up, he effortlessly hit the ball inside out over extra cover off the front foot. The typical response from the tall bowler was to pitch another one in his half, but the current version of Shreyas was not to be tricked as he duly hooked it past the mid-wicket for the third boundary of the over.

The aspect of Shreyas' game that is lesser talked about

A more positive approach to short-pitched bowling has helped improve Shreyas' stocks considerably but the less talked about part of the change is going back to the roots and getting his spin game to progress - imperative for a middle-order batter given the volume of spin he is likely to face. From respectable numbers against spin in his initial years, it nosedived in the 2018-22 phase. He got out to spin almost as many times as to pace in the five-year timeline (29 to pace & 27 to spin) and his average, strike rate, and boundary percentages against pace had better reading than it was against spin.

The drop in numbers was considerably more against away spin as Shreyas averaged 24.70 and struck at 114 against leg spin and left arm orthodox combined. Among the 33 right handed batters to have faced at least 150+ balls of these kind, only one batter was below Shreyas in both aspects - Wriddhiman Saha (Avg 17.10, SR 112).

The period also coincided with the explosion of wrist spinners in IPL with each franchise looking for one as their middle-overs strike weapon. Shreyas got dismissed 16 times to leg spin - the most by any batter - and averaged 19.37 at a strike rate of 116 against them. He had a particular weakness in picking googlies, getting out to it six times.

Shreyas vs away spin in IPL

Since IPL 2024, Shreyas is striking at 146 against left-arm orthodox and leg spin and has got out to these kinds of bowlers just once. With him not being a natural sweeper against spin, a large part of his success can be attributed to using the crease better to open up more areas and use his reach to hit the balls in front of square unlike in the past where he could come down the track and loft spinners down the ground.

In Punjab's season opener against Gujarat Titans, Shreyas took down the pair of Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan after the duo strangled Punjab in the early middle overs, playing off the front foot or backing away and using his reach to hit them in the 'V' down the ground. Since 2024, he averages 131 and strikes at 196 playing the ball of the front foot off the front foot (including coming down the track) or backing away. For perspective, the corresponding figures were 28.30 and 133 in the 2018-22 phase.

Shreyas' leadership credentials are well established by now and Punjab management will be looking up to their mega signing alongside new coach Ricky Ponting to cross the PlayOffs huddle for the first time since 2014, after the pair did something similar for the Delhi franchise in 2019. Shreyas the captain remains an important cog in wheel but not more than Shreyas the batter given his ability to hit against away spin in a middle-order largely devoid of left handers and one that don't fare well against hard lengths. India's current T20 set up is arguably the toughest currently to break into given the riches at their disposal, but a good IPL 2025 could do wonders for Shreyas and he has started it off on the right note.