India vs South Africa: Shreyas Iyer needs to improve his game against fast bowlers, says Wasim Jaffer

India vs South Africa: Shryeas Iyer managed just 13 runs in 17 balls against pace in the opening T20I of the ongoing 5-match series in New Delhi on Thursday.

Former India batter Wasim Jaffer has highlighted that Shreyas Iyer has a weakness against pace and he needs to work a way around it, considering he bats in the top-order in the T20I side. Jaffer pointed out that Iyer doesn't feel as comfortable against pace as he does against spin and it was evident with the way the Kolkata Knight Riders captain paced his innings in the 1st T20I against South Africa on Thursday in New Delhi.

Shreyas Iyer hit a 27-ball 36 against South Africa in the T20I series opener after coming into bat at No. 3 in the absence of Virat Kohli, who has been rested alongside Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. Iyer took the attack to the spinners, smashing 3 sixes and a boundary but against pace, he managed just 13 from 17 deliveries.

Iyer's strike rate against pace even in the Indian Premier League is singling out as he strikes at little over 120. The Mumbai batter strikes at over 150 against spin in T20I cricket but the rate falls to 130s against pace.

"You kind of know when Shreyas gets stuck, he moves around in the wicket a lot. He goes outside and wants to access the off-side. Otherwise, you won’t see him hitting a lot of boundaries or sixes off the fast bowlers. He did take down Shamsi and then later on Ishan Kishan took on the Keshav Maharaj threat," Jaffer told ESPNCricinfo.

"Look at the future, he needs to develop some shots with which he can dominate the fast bowlers also. He is batting in the top 4, he is not somebody who comes at the backend. So he has to improve his game, especially the boundary hitting against fast bowlers. That innings could have been a little bit better. 10-15 more would have come if he had hit a couple more boundaries in this innings," he added.

Iyer has the issue of not being able to deal with short deliveries and it was evident in IPL 2022 despite the star batter scoring in excess of 400 runs in his fist stint as captain of KKR.

Meanwhile, former South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn backed Iyer to work around the issue with the help of Rahul Dravid, saying he needs to be ready to face up to pace, considering the T20 World Cup will be held on pace-rich pitches in Australia this year.