Newcomer Shreyas Iyer was surprised with Rohit Sharma’s unbelievable hitting against Sri Lanka during Mohali’s second One-Day International match. Indian captain tore Lankan bowling line-up apart after a miserable batting display in Dharamshala, where the whole team bowled out for 112.

Rohit scored a record third double ton during his unbeaten 208-run knock, which features 13 fours and 12 sixes. This effortless innings came in 153 balls and helped India to level the series with a 141-run win in second ODI match.

Iyer said after first innings “I was just being a spectator at the non-striker’s end after getting to my 50. Just happy to give the strike to him. It was just the Rohit Sharma show thereafter. We batted well in the nets yesterday and it felt good. I took the confidence out there to the middle and it worked. Just backed my instincts, expressed myself. It’s a good pitch to bat, just a bit tough early on and we hope to take 2-3 wickets early on.”

The Mumbai lad himself scored runs here and played second fiddle to Rohit Sharma with his 88. This was his first fifty in ODI cricket in just his second match. However, he reasoned his laziness for not getting a hundred himself.

“We had decided that we will take it to the 40th over and see from there because we had a good batting line-up. We knew that if one of us stayed till the end, it could be really good for the others to bat around us. There was a patch when I was just watching Rohit bat and I was stunned by that. I guess I got a bit lazy during that phase and maybe should have carried on further. But I guess it’s part and parcel of the game,” he quoted.

With series is poised at 1-1, teams will travel to Vizag for the series decider, which will be played on December 17.