Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was impressed by star India batter Shreyas Iyer’s counter-attack during Team India’s run chase in the first ODI against England in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6. He also scored a quickfire 59 runs off 36 balls after coming into bat at 19-2 in the sixth over, as India were set a target of 249.

Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar said Shreyas Iyer’s fifty as his best ODI knock so far while naming him as the most effective player of the match.

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“Not only was he effective, but he was damn good. His innings was just high quality, he did not put a foot wrong. I know it was not a big hundred, but it has to be his best one-day innings that I have seen,” Manjrekar said.”This was just Shreyas Iyer, reacting to high-quality bowling. He seems to have worked out a beautiful backfoot game. He’s always been a backfoot player, but had the tendency to open up, which he is not doing anymore. You saw all the shots possible, and there was a lot of orthodox-sy as well.”

During Team Team India’s home season, when Shreyas Iyer found himself out of the TEst side, he was involved in Mumbai’s domestic campaign as well. He led the veterans in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well.

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“The way he batted today, just the technique and the ball hitting that was happening, it was very very compact, and a very good innings like a well-oiled machinery. If domestic cricket has helped him to just get into the groove, then all the arguments that we are hearing about the big names not playing domestic cricket, here’s an example. Because Shreyas Iyer, the way he played, I’m sure there is some connection with him playing those domestic matches,” Sanjay Manjrekar concluded.