Team India made a dominating comeback in the second ODI of the three-match series against the West Indies courtesy a power-packed batting performance. Having been forced to bat first by the Windies skipper, Kieron Pollard, the Men in Blue virtually batted the West Indies out of the game.
Team India went on to score 387/5 after being put in to bat by the West Indies with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul smashed centuries before Kuldeep Yadav topped it up with a hat-trick to clinch a series-leveling 107-run win against the West Indies in the second ODI in Vizag.
However, it is not Rahul’s hundred or Rohit’s 150 but the way that youngsters like Shreyas Iyer and Risabh Pant took up the mettle and helped the Men in Blue to post huge total, that would have given both the team-management and the fans in general utmost satisfaction. India’s nemesis in One-Day cricket ever since Yuvraj Singh fell out of favor has been the absence of a solid No.4 batsman who can play according to the match situation and Iyer seems to be the apt solution for the same.
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The right-hander- apart from being a very solid technically correct batsman boasts of the primary requisite for a player to be a successful middle-order batsman- is his temperament. The past three ODIs are an apt example of Iyer’s prowess at No.4. In the last ODI during India’s tour of the West Indies and the Vizag ODI, he came into bat when the Men in Blue needed to score runs at fast pace and continue with the tempo while in Chennai, India needed him to dig deep and take the team out of the precarious position of 3/80 along with Pant.
Iyer played according to game-situation in both the games and racked up a half-century in each of those games. He has given enough evidence of why he should be India’s No.4 in ODIs and T20Is and considering his consistency, fans have already started to compare him with King Kohli. Iyer had a brilliant game in Vizag.
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Shreyas has now scored four fifties his four consecutive ODIs. He also affected a crucial run-out of Shimron Htemyer on Wednesday.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Iyer’s performance:
Iyer's fielding and Shami's bowling totally changed the game. #Shami #ShreyasIyer #INDvsWI #indvwin #indvswestind
— Amar Rana (@KingOfStallion) December 18, 2019
Shreyas Iyer celebrating his 50 while he’s still on 49! You love to see this game. 😂🙌🏼
— Devang Sadhwani (@devangsadhwani) December 18, 2019
Shreyas IYER is the next Virat KOHLI
… Yes including MC,BCs 😅👌🏻#INDvWI— PH (@FffNeutral) December 18, 2019
14 year old me when I spot my best friend outside school #INDvWI #ShreyasIyer pic.twitter.com/jwU8Br2vDB
— Yash Saboo (@YashSaboo7) December 18, 2019
What a fielding… 🤩
He fulfill the No.4 spot and he express the best fielding….
Best'u find.. 😍😍 @ShreyasIyer15
— Krishna (@Sabari80655648) December 18, 2019
Batting✅
Fielding(runout)✅
Bowling ✅Excellent performance from #shreyasiyer @ShreyasIyer15 #hetmyer runout change the match #Vizag #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/GqtRYRpViS
— Sharmi (@sharmisidd) December 18, 2019
