NEW DELHI: After a disappointing tour of England and Ireland, India captain Shreyas Iyer made it clear that he does not want his players to carry the fear of failure in the T20I series against Zimbabwe.The Indian skipper said the players should not worry about what people say outside the dressing room and should focus on expressing themselves freely. “I think they should not be afraid of failure because if you have such thoughts in the back of your mind, then you play to save yourself. If you don’t have that fear, you can get the best out of yourself,” Iyer said before the first T20I against Zimbabwe. “We don’t have to think about what people are saying outside. We must stay in the present. If more of us play good cricket and play together as a unit, it will be better for the team,” he said.The pressure was on Iyer after India failed to win a single white-ball match on the England and Ireland tour. India lost the two-match T20I series 0-2 to Ireland before suffering a 0-4 defeat against England in the five-match series.
Shreyas Iyer’s T20I batting record against teams
| Opposition: | Matches: | Innings: | Running: | Highest Score: | Average: | Strike Rate: | 100s | 50s | Ducks: | four: | six: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia: | 4: | 4: | 73: | 53: | 24.33: | 146.00 | 0: | 1: | 1: | 6:00 | 3: |
| Bangladesh: | 3: | 3: | 108: | 62: | 54.00: | 183.05 | 0: | 1: | 0: | 7:00 | 8 o’clock |
| England: | 11:00 | 10:00 | 367: | 80* | 45.87: | 150.40 | 0: | 3: | 0: | 32:00 | 11:00 |
| Ireland: | 2: | 2: | 13:00 | 10:00 | 6:50 in the morning | 92.85 | 0: | 0: | 0: | 2: | 0: |
| New Zealand | 13:00 | 11:00 | 225: | 58* | 25.00 | 124.30 | 0: | 1: | 1: | 14:00 | 10:00 |
| South Africa: | 8 o’clock | 8 o’clock | 116: | 40:00 | 7:33 in the evening | 113.72 | 0: | 0: | 0: | 6:00 | 7:00 |
| Sri Lanka | 9:00 | 8 o’clock | 296: | 74* | 59.20: | 149.49 | 0: | 3: | 1: | 28:00 | 9:00 |
| West Indies | 8 o’clock | 8 o’clock | 137: | 64: | 19.57: | 119.13: | 0: | 1: | 1: | 15:00 | 3: |
Despite the results, Iyer believes that the tough phase helped the team understand what needs to be improved.India is scheduled to play a three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, starting Thursday. “We had a rough patch in England, but there were a lot of positives from that. We know what we need to build as a team going forward, what kind of presence of mind, awareness and adaptability we need once we get on the field,” Iyer said.
New country, new challenge for Iyer
This is Iyer’s first tour to Zimbabwe and he has never played a T20I in the country before. He admits that quick adaptation to the conditions is important.“Some of us are playing here for the first time, so the faster we adapt, the better results we will get,” he said.“It’s definitely very challenging. We came yesterday, today is practice and tomorrow is the game. But it’s fun, and if you perform well in these situations, you’ll definitely be happy with yourself. The results didn’t go our way, but that brought the team closer to each other. We had a lot of discussions about how we can play as a unit going forward,” said Iyer.“It’s a good exposure because you don’t get it often. It’s a challenging stage, and the sooner you overcome it, the better you’ll be as a team,” the Indian captain said.