Following India’s win over Pakistan in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, Indian batter Shreyas Iyer, who hit a fifty and a added a 114-run stand with star batter Virat Kohli, said that Kohli never struggled for runs, rather he was hungry for them as reflected by his move to practice one hour earlier than usual ahead of the team’s practice leading up to the match as well. Notably, Kohli smashed his 51st ODI hundred as well.
“I have never thought of Virat struggling for runs. It is just the mindset that he possesses over the years. He is always hungry for
runs and I remember yesterday he had come almost an hour before us for the practice session He played few balls, and he was looking –
from outside he looked as crisp as he looks all the time. So, I never feel that he’s struggling for runs, to be honest,” Shreyas Iyer said in post-match presentation.
Iyer also said that the match could have been won a little earlier.
“I think we could have won a bit earlier, could have been a convincing win based on how the wicket was playing. It was initially coming on
pretty well with the new ball and after that it was difficult to score runs when the ball got a bit old. But if we would have played more
aggressively we would have won a bit earlier I felt,” he said.
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He also applauded the bowlers for their performance, especially in the middle overs when the spinners did their job to restrict Pakistan for 241.
“As we know, even in the previous game when we played over here, the wicket is a bit slow. It is spinner-friendly, of course, and the way they have been bowling consistently over a period of time, I think the amalgamation of all three bowlers (Axar, Kuldeep and Jadeja) mixing
up quite – with also the experience that they possess. I think that brings a lot of clarity in their bowling,” he further added.
Shreyas Iyer also said that it is always great to win a match and he also felt that initially during his knock, he was struggling to play the ball in the gaps.
“I think Abrar (Ahmed) bowled brilliantly. It was important and crucial for me to play out that spell and rotate the strike at the same time. I
took some time, and then once my eyes were set, I thought that sweep and reverse sweep would have been a great option to put them on the back foot. And I think that worked pretty well for me. And from there on, it was important to build the partnership till the end. And yeah, quite imperative in the middle to take the team through and I think we played pretty well in those fields,” he stated.
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Shreyas Iyer also said that the recent form after his return to the ODI set-up is a “blessing”. In five ODIs this year, Iyer has scored 252 runs which came at an average of 50.40 and a strike rate of over 109 with three fifties and best score of 78 as well.
“It is not easy. For me, at least, this is from my point of view. But rotating the strike is going to be important going forward from here on. Because that puts a decent amount of pressure on the bowlers. They keep changing their line and lengths and yeah, once you keep taking singles, you get loose deliveries here and there. So yeah, once you charge on or take on the loose deliveries and hit them for four or six, I think the bowlers are more under pressure and you can keep ticking the scoreboard from there on,” Shreyas Iyer concluded.
