Before the tournament, he expressed his wish to make a mark at No.3.
After conceding 10 runs in the previous two deliveries, Prasidh Krishna attempted another short delivery, slightly outside the off-stump line. By this time, Shreyas Iyer was hitting everything coming his way, especially short-length stuff. Given his recent propensity to pull, another one was almost inevitable.
But this particular delivery was climbing more than prior ones for two reasons. It was shorter, the fourth-shortest of Iyer’s innings, and Prasidh always gets additional bounce due to that tall height. So, when Iyer played his pull shot with all his force, his bat torqued slightly, a common effect of excessive power. The ball gathered more elevation than distance, but Kagiso Rabada touched the cushions and just went for a maximum.
This not-so-controlled pull shot depicted two major things: Iyer’s improved power and technique to avoid staying leg side of the ball against short-length deliveries. Since his evolution against non-fuller balls, he has started moving back and across to access the leg-side region, which has helped him exert more power in his hook or pull strokes.
But that’s not the only change. Iyer didn’t lose his shape against Krishna. It meant that while his bat twisted, the ball still gathered enough power and wasn’t a complete mishit. It still came from the middle, and short boundaries helped. Two balls earlier, Iyer had pulled a back-of-a-length delivery for a stand-and-deliver six, where he didn’t move much but just transferred his weight and powered it over wide long-on.
That weight transfer was largely possible due to a slightly open back leg because it prevents blocking his hips and allows more controlled rotation and is naturally more aligned with his shoulders. This also helps in a delayed shoulder opening, minimising mistimed shots. Earlier, his back leg remained parallel to the crease, which restricted his scoring zones.
Take those dismissals from the World Cup 2023, for instance. Trent Boult and Chris Woakes dismissed him in back-to-back games via non-full-length deliveries, where he couldn’t time his shots. His hip rotation was largely blocked, and he often mistimed his shots.
Cricviz stated that Iyer averaged a mere 18.3 and struck at 158 while playing the pull and hook shots till 2024. But that has surged to 88 and 226 in 2025. Against deliveries shorter than 8m, he scored 43 runs in 15 deliveries, including three boundaries and four maximums, against the Gujarat Titans (GT). He had a strike rate of 350 while attempting a pull shot in the fixture.
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Iyer’s blistering shots and wider range were not limited to powering short lengths only. He used Rabada’s pace to flick over midwicket for a maximum and piece the gap towards third man. He also made the most of Krishna’s width and bounce to whack past the point region for a boundary.
However, his best phase came in the middle overs when Sai Kishore wreaked havoc by dismissing Azmatullah Omarzai and Glenn Maxwell in consecutive deliveries. With Marcus Stoinis’ middling proficiency against spinners, the onus was on Iyer to maintain the scoring rate. But Kishore got turn and grip in the first innings with a dry ball; he extracted 3.25° turn, the most among all bowlers.
The only way Punjab Kings could come back into the game was if Iyer played one of his best knocks, and he did. He picked Kishore’s variations from his hands and hit two sixes in the 13th over. Then, he also showed his class with consecutive maximums off Rashid Khan in the next set and put the pressure back on GT.
To take on two of the finest spinners in the league when they are getting assistance off the deck in the middle of a mini-collapse says everything about how far Iyer has come as a T20 batter. Even during his best days, he wasn’t as adept at reading the game situation. Then, he didn’t have the skillset to pull off anything like he did against GT, either.
Before the tournament, Iyer expressed his wish to make a mark at No.3. He was clear about his batting position and offered a tantalising preview of what lies ahead with his impeccable knock. No.3 is a tricky position. The fact that the likes of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav grace this number for India underlines its significance.
But nothing suggests why Iyer can’t do the same, especially after such a flourishing range and freshly minted power-hitting flair. All Iyer has done in his career is debunk notions one after another. And he has done it by methodically erasing insurmountable flaws.
But that’s a long shot, and now is hardly the ideal time to contemplate a comeback. When Iyer won the trophy with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2024, he played numerous impactful knocks. But they remained in the shadows of towering performances and star-studded names. Maybe it’s his time to blend that impact with lofty scores and take his T20 game to never-before heights.
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