Can Iyer be Daredevils' X-factor?

Good kyun bola, maloom na (You know why I said good, right)?" Praveen Amre asks Shreyas Iyer. Amre, the Delhi Daredevils assistant coach, had been floating balls in front of Iyer and asking him to hit along the ground during the team's training session at Ferozshah Kotla on Wednesday afternoon. Amre's primary aim was for Iyer, playing his maiden IPL, to meet the ball under his eyeline with the right head position when bat met ball. For close to 45 minutes, coach and student focussed on the minutiae of Iyer's batting technique.

"Once I say good I need to see quite a few things," Amre says. " Your pick-up has to be good. Your downswing has to be correct. Your meeting point has to be correct. Your finish has to be correct. The weight transfer has to be correct. There are so many things involved for me to say good. That is my job to make sure to help them understand what is good. Otherwise they (batsmen) are hitting. They are getting the boundaries. But the correctness is important as that will help them become consistent, allow them to play against any bowler, on any wicket."

Amre has known Iyer since he joined Shivaji Park Gymkhana as a 13 year old. Hence it is easy to note the deference in Iyer's tone when talking to Amre. The familiarity also allows Amre to be open and blunt in his assessment with Iyer.

As he was fine-tuning Iyer's technique, at one point Amre expressed his disappointment at Iyer throwing away a good start he had against Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday evening. On 31, Iyer went for a slog sweep against Piyush Chawla. He had a good opportunity to notch his second half-century in the IPL but failed to consolidate a solid start.

"In this format getting a good start is very important. Once you get that start you should not lose it because it takes time for the new batsman to settle down," Amre says. "The entire team gets affected. He got out after 31 and then Manoj (Tiwary) got out similarly after getting a start and eventually the team was short by 20-25 runs. That is why I told him I was angry with him because he got the start but he left in-between. People might say he got 30, but as a coach I know that in the previous match he scored 60 so the team would have benefitted."

So today it was all about purposeful training. It was about making sure Iyer was attaining the shape coaches are pedantic about. Other than asking Iyer not to use his bottom hand too much, Amre asked him to make use of his height and stand on his toes to respond to short balls, what is the right position to leave out the bouncer, and, importantly hear to the "sound" of the stroke to determine its effectiveness.

Iyer is the top run-getter for Daredevils after five matches. He has been given the freedom to play his own game, says Amre. Iyer is not the typical Mumbai cricketer. He does not believe in grafting; he likes to dominate. It is the same style of play Iyer has used in first-class cricket where he was the highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy.

At 20, asking Iyer to take prime responsibility is not what Daredevils' think tank wants to do. But they do want him to grow into the role given to him as the season grows.

Can Iyer be the X-factor for Daredevils? "He has the X-factor," Amre says. "He is aggressive and his ability to score runs is a big positive. He is the youngest member in the team. But he is confident. He has more than 800 runs in Ranji Trophy and he has brought that same confidence to the IPL."