New Delhi: India captain after disappointing tour of England and Ireland Shreyas Iyer has made it clear that he does not want his players to carry the fear of failure into the T20I series against Zimbabwe.The India skipper said players should not worry about what people are saying outside the dressing room and should focus on expressing themselves freely. “I think they should not be afraid of failure because when you have that thought deep down in your heart, you play to save yourself. When you don’t have that fear, you can bring out the best in you,” Iyer said before the first T20I against Zimbabwe. “We don’t have to think too much about what people are saying out there. We must stay in the present moment. The more we play and play together as a unit, the better it is for the team,” he said.Iyer is under huge pressure after India failed to win a white-ball match during the tour of England and Ireland. India lost the two-match T20I series 0-2 to Ireland and then the five-match series to England 0-4.
Shreyas Iyer’s T20I batting record against the team
| be opposed to | matches | bureau | running | highest score | average | hit rate | 100 seconds | Over 50 years old | Duck | four-a-side | No. 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 4 | 4 | 73 | 53 | 24.33 | 146.00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| Bangladesh | 3 | 3 | 108 | 62 | 54.00 | 183.05 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| England | 11 | 10 | Chapter 367 | 80* | 45.87 | 150.40 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 11 |
| Ireland | 2 | 2 | 13 | 10 | 6.50 | 92.85 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| New Zealand | 13 | 11 | 225 | 58* | 25:00 | 124.30 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 10 |
| South Africa | 8 | 8 | 116 | 40 | 19.33 | 113.72 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Sri Lanka | 9 | 8 | 296 | 74* | 59.20 | 149.49 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 9 |
| west indies | 8 | 8 | 137 | 64 | 19.57 | 119.13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 3 |
Despite these results, Ayer believes the difficult period has helped the team understand areas for improvement.India is scheduled to play a three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe starting on Thursday. “We’ve been through a tough period in England but there’s been a lot of positives from it. We know what we have to build as a team going forward and what kind of composure, awareness and adaptability we need once we step on the pitch,” Iyer said.
A new country, a new challenge for Iyer
This is Iyer’s first tour to Zimbabwe and he has never played a T20I in the country before. He acknowledged that adapting quickly to conditions was crucial.“It’s the first time some of us are playing here, so the quicker we adapt, the better results we’ll be able to achieve,” he said.“It’s definitely been very challenging. We came yesterday, today is training 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 it brought the team closer to each other. We’ve been talking about how to move forward as a unit,” Iyer said.“It’s a good exposure because you don’t come across situations like this very often. It’s a challenging phase and the sooner you overcome it, the better you will become as a team,” the India skipper said.
