Shreyas Iyer Urges India Team to Play Freely Against Zimbabwe After Disappointing Tour

NEW DELHI: After a disappointing tour of England and Ireland, India captain 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 outside the dressing room are saying and should instead focus on expressing themselves freely. "I don't think they should fear failure because when you have such thoughts at the back of your mind, then you play to save yourself. When you don't have that fear, you can get the best out of yourself," Iyer said ahead of the first T20I against Zimbabwe. "We don't have to think much about what people are saying outside. We have to stay in the present. The more we play good cricket and play together as a unit, the better it will be for the team," he said. The pressure is firmly on Iyer after India failed to win a single white-ball match on the England and Ireland tour. India lost the two-match T20I series 0-2 to Ireland before suffering a 0-4 defeat against England in the five-match series.

Shreyas Iyer's T20I batting record against teams

OppositionMatchesInningsRunsHighest ScoreAverageStrike Rate100s50sDucksFoursSixesAustralia44735324.33146.0001163Bangladesh331086254.00183.0501078England111036780*45.87150.400303211Ireland2213106.5092.8500020New Zealand131122558*25.00124.300111410South Africa881164019.33113.7200067Sri Lanka9829674*59.20149.49031289West Indies881376419.57119.13011153

Despite those results, Iyer believes the difficult phase has helped the team understand what it needs to improve. India are scheduled to play three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, starting Thursday. "We had a rough patch in England, but there were a lot of positives out of that. We got to know what we have to build as a team going forward, what kind of presence of mind, awareness and adaptability we need once we step onto the field," Iyer said.

New country, new challenge for Iyer

This is Iyer's first tour of Zimbabwe and he has never played a T20I in the country before. He admitted that adapting quickly to the conditions would be crucial. "Some of us are playing here for the first time, so the quicker we adapt, the better results we will get," he said. "It is definitely very challenging. We came yesterday, today is practice and tomorrow is the match. But it is fun, and if you perform well in these situations, you will definitely be happy with yourself. The results didn't go our way, but that has brought the team closer to each other. We've been having a lot of discussions about how we're going to play as a unit going forward," Iyer said. "It's a great exposure because you don't get this often. This is a challenging phase, and the quicker you overcome it, the better you become as a team," the Indian captain said.