Stepping down the track served Shreyas Iyer well during his knock of 92 against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru ©BCCI
Trouble introduced itself to Shreyas Iyer one ball into his innings. It was the 28th over of the Test, the match still in its first session, and Dhananjaya de Silva bowled a fairly innocuous delivery. Iyer picked the length early and prepared to get on top of the bounce by shifting his weight back and standing tall in his crease. Little did he know he was in the worst position for what was to come. That short ball turned into an off-spinning grubber and shot towards his ankle. Unlike Virat Kohli just before, Iyer was a fraction of a second quicker to smell the mischief and managed to get his bat down to toe-end the ball.
India's No. 6 faced 98 balls on a Bengaluru pitch that played such tricks and finished only eight short of a remarkable second Test century. The knock was for most parts a workshop in batting on a turner, and in lesser parts recipient of Sri Lankan benevolence. The visitors had already allowed India to swindle 86 runs before Iyer walked in. But they had scored a moral victory before the interval when they silenced the vociferous Chinnaswamy Stadium with Kohli's wicket. Never mind the early profligacy, there was a chance to run through the lower middle-order after the break.
Because of all the excessive turn, coupled with the uneven bounce, there were unplayable balls every now and then. Iyer had watched Hanuma Vihari and Kohli seemingly look settled before they got a ball each that they could do little about. "When I was sitting inside there was drama happening in every over and the thrill was intense," Iyer said at the end of the day's play.
"The first five balls I played were really difficult. It was the second last over before Tea, I was very nervous. I just wanted to somehow play those two overs and after that I knew what I was going to do."
Before we get to what he did do, a little background is in order. Iyer has established himself as one of India's best spin hitters right through his formative years in first class cricket. As early as in 2015, in his second Ranji Trophy season, he'd combined with Jay Bista to sweep seasoned offspinner Jalaj Saxena on a raging turner in Indore en route a
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