Shreyas Iyer Applauds Abhishek and Sooryavanshi for Match-Winning Show

Wellington :  India T20I captain Shreyas Iyer was in all praise for openers Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for powering India to a record six-wicket win over New Zealand with a jaw-dropping batting show at the Hnry Stadium in Wellington on Tuesday.

Abhishek (113) and Sooryavanshi (45) put the New Zealand bowlers to the sword with a record 118-run Powerplay, which is now the most a team has scored during this phase.

Their 133-run opening wicket partnership set the platform for India to chase the 199-run target in 13.2 overs, which is now the fastest 190-plus chase by a full-member team and the second fastest overall, behind Estonia’s 192 chase against Cyprus that came with 42 balls in hand.

Speaking on the duo’s mayhem, Shreyas seemed out of words to compliment them as he was left astonished by the batting display. “Absolutely stunning. It was pleasing to the eyes the way they played strokes. Also, when Sanju and I went to bat, the ball was seaming, and I was like, how did they manage this? It was simply mind-boggling,” Shreyas said after the match.

He also opined that this was the best performance he has seen at the international level. “Honestly speaking, getting 100 in 5 overs, I’ve never seen that before, especially at the international level. And definitely tops it,” he added.

India have taken an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the five-match series, and it speaks volumes of them adapting to the New Zealand conditions so well that they have won the first three matches. “I think it’s essential, especially coming overseas (on message for players to keep playing the way they are). You know the conditions are going to be different, and you’ll be challenged with a lot of different deliveries.

“And just to overcome this by such phenomenal performance, credit where it’s due, the way they played today, it was exceptional. And obviously, winning the series with the third match and two more to go, I hope that they keep continuing with the same form and yes, it’s just amazing the way the lads pulled up to this occasion. Jet lag at the start and then the way they fitted to the occasion, mind-boggling,” he added.

The Indian bowlers also did a good job in keeping New Zealand in check. With the square boundaries short and straight boundaries long, the bowlers deployed yorker-length bowling after the first 10 overs itself, and that kept the hosts to 198/3 despite a career-best 89* from 52 balls from Daryl Mitchell.

Shreyas spoke on the bowling plan, revealing that he asked the bowlers to go for yorkers early in the innings.

“So after 10 overs, I realised that anything they were bowling, hard length or even half volleys, it was going into the stands. I just said, that try and bowl yorkers as much as possible, even if you bowl six-ball yorkers. Make them hit down the ground, or a wide yorker is going to help us on this wicket.

“So, yeah, we were able to execute that and minimise that run rate to eight to nine; that helped us a lot to keep them at 10 runs an over. And yeah, we planned to restrict them under 200,” he added.