Will Shreyas Iyer be India's number three in white-ball cricket?

Over the years, white-ball cricket has seen tremendous growth and it is played more often than Test cricket. The fans also enjoy watching the shorter formats as it does not take up as much time as Test cricket. Since the time Kapil Dev and his men won the ODI world cup in 1983, Indian fans have loved the ODI format because there is a history that is now attached to the most loved sport in India.

Shreyas Iyer has been a part of the Indian setup for quite some time. The right-handed batter made his debut back in November 2017 in a T20I game against Sri Lanka. Since then, he has gone on to play in every format of the game and has done well. But he still has to fight for his spot every time as he is a pure batter and it becomes difficult to fit him in the playing XI keeping in mind the balance of the side. 

The Mumbai-based cricketer must have felt dejected when he was not a part of the T20 world cup squad last year and had to be in the reserves. But since then, Shreyas Iyer has grabbed every opportunity that he has got with both hands to make it count. In ODIs, whenever Shreyas Iyer has batted at number three, he has done well for the team and himself. If you look at the statistics, the young batter has only batted at that spot three times in his career and has managed to score 162 runs with an average of 54.00. Iyer's strike rate is also the most impressive when he bats at number three at 101.25. This shows that he has the potential to do well if he is given more chances at this position which is currently occupied by Virat Kohli in white-ball cricket. 

India's top order as of now comprises KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who are similar in their style of batting. They take their time to get their eye in whether it's T20 cricket or ODIs. Now the issue here is the fact when all three take their time and if they fail to bat till the very end then the pressure gets comes on the middle-order and that is where the game slips out of India's hands. This is why grooming a young cricketer for the number three spot is very important if the Indian team starts looking towards the future and with the kind of records and performances that Shreyas Iyer has given, he fits the role and has proved that he can bat well under pressure. 

But, the one area that Shreyas Iyer will need to work on is his game against the short ball. This has been a major cause of concern for him and he really needs to work hard and improve. These days with all the data analysts and statisticians that travel with the teams, everyone knows the weakness of their opponents and takes now no time in testing them in the very same area. So, if Shreyas Iyer has to succeed at the highest level, he will need to work on his batting and improve against short balls.