New batting philosophy won’t change but need to execute plans better: Iyer

Ahmedabad, Mar 13 (PTI): India’s “play freely” batting philosophy that skipper Virat Kohli has advocated won’t change despite the opening T20 debacle against England, the rapidly-rising Shreyas Iyer said but acknowledged that it needs better execution in the coming games. India posted just 124 against England in the first match here on Friday , unable to cope with a very disciplined pace bowling show by the visitors, spearheaded by Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. England took just a little more than 15 overs to overhaul the target.
Asked if India will need to step away from the new batting philosophy of gong for the shots no matter what the situation, Iyer said, “…it won’t change because if you see the batting line up we have and the power-hitters down the line, we don’t have to change anything to be honest.” “We have come with a plan and we have to execute as much as possible because going into the world Cup we need to see to it that we tick all the boxes. This is a five-match series, so it is a perfect time to try different stuff and see what suits us,” he explained. The second T20 is scheduled to held here on Sunday. The selectors picked IPL performers like Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tewatia for the series while the in-form Rishabh Pant also made a return on the back of his strong international performances in the past couple of months.
Asked if he is under any pressure to perform, Iyer said: “I am in no sort of pressure to perform, I am playing freely, happily and enjoying my innings.”
Iyer came out to bat at number five after Pant was promoted in the batting order. He said, batting position is not his concern.
“Coming into Indian team, you have to be flexible with which batting position you will be batting. I haven’t made any changes, it is just the mindset, what the team requires and (I) batted according to the situation,” he said.
“It was a challenging situation, we had to keep playing the natural game and keep the scoreboard ticking irrespective of losing early wickets.”