Shreyas Iyer gave a reply to the constant criticism about his apparent weakness against short-pitched delivery. According to him, the outside comments did affect him at a point in time but he turned a "deaf ear" to them and focused on taking corrective measures.
Iyer, who scored 87 off 105 balls to take India out of trouble in the second Test against Bangladesh, was targeted for a brief period with short balls. He said he was confident of doing well against the tactics.
"The (Bangladesh) bowlers started targeting me (with short balls) when I came to bat. When the ball was seaming, they were bowling short balls," Iyer said at the press conference at the end of the second day's play.
Iyer had also scored 86 in India's lone innings in the 188-run win in the first Test in Chattogram.
"That (short ball issue) has been something the commentators talk about. Off the field, people keep saying that I have that issue. It had gone into my head at some point in time. But if I leave (the ball) or keep it down, I don't have any problem. Runs were not coming (against short balls), that was the situation," Iyer said.
For him, it was important to shut out the noise.
"It does play in the mind of a batter when people from outside talk about issues and it’s important as a player to turn a deaf ear to them. The rest will take care of itself. At the end of the day, ignorance is bliss," the 28-year-old added.
Iyer said there was no change in his approach.
"When I went in to bat, the ball was not turning that much and that was the communication I had with Rishabh. I was just trying to play the line of the ball, very much similar to how I played in Chattogram.
"The fast bowlers were operating from one end and my mindset was to just play the session out and see how it goes. Obviously, at the same time, I'm not going to restrict my strokes, if I see the ball pitching in my area, I'm going to go for it. I backed myself today and thankfully got a good score."
Asked if he was disappointed at not getting a hundred, Iyer said, "Definitely, it hurts as a batsman but at the same time I looked at it positively.
"I went there in a tough situation and was able to bring the team out of it. That is more important for me than getting personal landmarks."
(Inputs from PTI)
