Iyer confident of handling bouncer barrage

English

Josh  Hazlewood  got  Iyer  into  a  tangle  with a well-directed bouncer in the first ODI  while  he  gave  a  better  account  of  himself  in  the  second  game  where  he  scored 38 off 36 balls.

“I  am  really  happy  that  they  are  coming up with a plan (against me),” Iyer  said  on  the  eve  of  the  inconsequential third ODI when asked about the  home  team  peppering  him  with  short-pitched stuff.“I  feel  overwhelmed  and  take  it  as  a  challenge. But  I  thrive  under  pressure  and it motivates me to go against them. I feel it (a short leg and leg gully) helps to take advantage and score more runs and  make  best  use  of  it,”  said  India’s  number four batsman.

Playing   the   short   stuff   is  all  about  mind-set  for  Iyer  along  with  the  ad-justment  while  batting  at the nets.“It’s  all  about  mind-set   that   you   need   to  adjust. How you need to place yourself on the wicket.  Rather  than  bending   down   too   much (during stance),  you  stand upright. It’s  easier  to  pick   up   the   short one.”“I    have    set  a  pattern  for  myself.  Every  time  I  play,  I  give  myself  a  little  bit  of  time  and  get  set.  If  they  come  up  with  that  field (for short ball), I get aggressive as well.  Because  that  kind  of  field  is  easy  to manipulate.”He  agreed  that  confusion  about  the shot selection brought about his downfall against Hazlewood in the first game.

“I knew that short ball was going to come. I got in two frame of minds, thinking  of  pulling  and  at  the  same  time  I  had  this  upper  cut  shot.  I  got  stuck    in    between  two  thoughts  and couldn’t play the shot.”In the second game, he just watched the ball and reacted accordingly.

“It  was  easy  to  do  that  rather  than  thinking  about  what  the  bowler  is  going to do. I like to give myself some time  at  the  beginning.  In  that  way,  if  you are set, you can predict what the bowler is trying to bowl.”Iyer   also   spoke   about   the   chal-lenges  of  adapting  to  different  type  of  pitches  --  like  two  months  of  IPL  in  UAE  where  it  was  low  bounce  and  then  the  spongy  tennis  ball  bounce  Down Under