India beat Bangladesh by 30 runs in the third and final match to clinch the three-match T20I series by 2-1 on Sunday. Shreyas Iyer performed with the bat whereas Deepak Chahar became the first Indian male cricketer to take a hat-trick in T20Is in Nagpur. However, it wasn’t that easy for the Indian team.
After having posted 174 for five, India found themselves under the pressure. Bangladesh were 110 for two in 12.5 overs and looked to beat India. However, according to Shreyas Iyer, when the team was “feeling the pressure” Rohit Sharma gave them a pep talk.
“We were feeling the pressure. We know that they are a really good team. There’s no team in T20 that we can underestimate. And in the previous two games we have seen that the quality of cricket they have been playing was really mesmerising,” said Iyer. “We were going a little lethargic at the start, but once they started going, Rohit called all the players inside the circle and he gave us a pep talk, which was really motivating. After that we were all determined to win the game.”
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Shreyas Iyer played well after two early wickets of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer stitched a 59-run partnership for the third wicket to bring India back into the contest. Iyer top-scored with 62 runs off just 33 balls which included three consecutive sixes.
“The over in which I hit three sixes changed the momentum of the match. Otherwise, we would have got 150 and that would have been a really tough total too difficult on this wicket. Yeah, I would give myself a credit, playing that role. It was important for one of the top three batters to stay at the crease till the 15th over,” said Shreyas Iyer.
The focus will now shift to the two-match Test series that will begin on Thursday at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.