India captain Shreyas Iyer said that the team had received a “reality check” during its recent tour of Ireland and shared that adapting quickly to unfamiliar conditions would be important as they look to return to winning ways against Zimbabwe in the first T20I on Thursday.
“We have to adapt as soon as possible. Because that’s what happened with us in Ireland. We got a sort of a reality check. So here, as soon as we create awareness and execute properly, the results will go our way,” Iyer said at the pre-match press conference in Harare on Wednesday.
However, Zimbabwe will be heavy underdogs, but their recent results don’t allow India to take any opposition lightly. He also said that the lessons from India’s 0-4 T20I series defeat to England had reinforced the need for greater “presence of mind, awareness and adaptability” in overseas conditions as well.
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“Their team will be good in terms of preparation. They will have a good idea about the ground,” Iyer shared. “We had a rough patch in England. But a lot of positives came 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. This is going to be a great challenge for us. Some of us are playing for the first time, so the quicker we adapt, the better result we would have.”
However, Shreyas Iyer also admitted that the turnaround between the ODI series in England and the Zimbabwe T20Is had been demanding. He was part of the ODI series decider at Lord’s on Sunday, and he would have to turn up for a game on an entirely different continent after just a three-day gap.
“Not going to lie, it’s definitely very challenging. We came yesterday, today is practice, and tomorrow is the match again. It’s challenging but fun. It has made me more confident as an individual, because when you overcome the injury phase, it makes you very positive. You work on your skills, you work on your strengths and weaknesses, and I have this feeling that when you overcome this barrier as an individual, it makes you stronger as a person, and whatever challenges you face on the field, you know you can overcome it quickly,” he said.
“There can be ups and downs, but the quicker you analyse, and the quicker you execute stuff the way you want to, you are in a great space of mind, and at the end of the day, it’s beneficial for the team as well,” Shreyas Iyer concluded.
