"He has figured out a way" - Indian legend makes big claim on Shreyas Iyer's short ball woes after IND vs ENG 2025 1st ODI

Former India left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan believes that Shreyas Iyer has found a way to tackle the short ball. The latter's weakness against the rising delivery had raised serious questions over the Mumbai batter's future on the big stage.

Shreyas contributed a thrilling 59 off 36 balls as the Men in Blue beat England by four wickets in the first ODI at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6. The right-handed batter looked in little trouble against the short ball as he struck nine fours and two sixes.

While analyzing Shreyas' impressive batting effort in Nagpur, Zaheer opined that the Indian batter seems to have a found a method to deal with his short ball woes. During an interaction on Cricbuzz, the former India pacer commented:

"I think he has figured out a way. It's been a while that Shreyas walks in and gets peppered with the short ball. There was an obvious concern around that. But, what I liked from today's innings - he was not giving himself too much room to play those short deliveries. He was actually getting in decent positions to take the short-pitched balls on."

Zaheer added that Shreyas' success against the rising delivery in Nagpur will boost his confidence for the upcoming challenges. He elaborated:

"It has worked today, so this innings is definitely going to give him confidence. Also, it's a message which is sent to the bowlers that if you are going to come at me, I can come at you back. That is something important, which will change the mindset of bowlers looking at him."

Shreyas was looking in great touch for a big knock. However, he was dismissed by England left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell as he completely missed a sweep.

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"The counter-attack was just a brilliant innings to watch" - Zaheer on significance of Shreyas' half-century

While India got home with ease in a chase of 249, they were in early trouble after openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (15) and Rohit Sharma (2) perished cheaply. However, Shreyas came in and took the attack to the England bowlers. Sharing his views on the significance of the batter's counter-attack, Zaheer told Cricbuzz:

"The counter-attack was just a brilliant innings to watch. At that stage in the game, when the ball is new, hard and you have already lost two wickets, for someone to walk in with such confidence and take the attack to the opposition, was something that worked really well. It really set the tone for the run chase."

After Shreyas was dismissed for 59, Shubman Gill (87 off 96) and Axar Patel (52 off 47) added 108 runs for the fourth wicket to put India firmly in command.