NEW DELHI: India’s Champions Trophy triumph over Pakistan by six wickets on Sunday was described by Shreyas Iyer as “sweet” because it was against a team that was very competitive and required fending off numerous “external pressures.”
With this victory, India all but guaranteed a spot in the ICC showcase semifinals, and Iyer was instrumental in it with a timely 56 off 67 balls.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
“I haven’t played that many matches in Pakistan, so I don’t know exactly how it would have felt. But it’s a neutral venue and it’s a challenge for both the teams. But any victory against Pakistan is sweet because they are always competitive,” Iyer told reporters in the post-match press conference in Dubai.
“It’s a challenge and there’s a lot of pressure externally as well. It was a lot of fun. It was my third game in Pakistan,” he added but did not elaborate what exactly he meant by external pressure.
Iyer praised his senior teammate for reaching a century with ease. Iyer and Virat Kohli formed a crucial 114-run partnership for the third wicket.
In addition to scoring 14000 runs in the format during the knock, Kohli also hit his 51st ODI century.
“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. I remember yesterday, he had come almost an hour before us for the practice session and he played a few balls and he was looking from outside.
“He looked as crisp as he looks all the time. So, I never feel that he is struggling for his runs,” he said.
The Mumbaikar also eased worries about injuries to veteran pacer Mohammed Shami and captain Rohit Sharma, who both had to miss some part of Pakistan’s innings.
“As far as I know, both Rohit and Shami are fine. There is no injury concern to them,” he said.
Iyer had a two-layered innings, first concentrating on singles and then opening up to punish the Pakistan bowlers.
The 30-year-old gave an explanation of the reasoning for his strategy.
“See, it is clear as sweeps and reverse sweeps cannot be played straightaway. But rotating the strike is going to be important because that puts a decent amount of pressure on the bowlers.
“They keep changing their line lengths. And once you keep taking singles, the bowlers are more under pressure and you can keep hitting the scoreboard from there on,” he added.
On his aggressive approach in the latter part of the innings, Iyer said: “I love to take on the bowlers when we are under pressure. And that is my mindset. If we take charge, if we gain the momentum towards us, then it is easy to steady the ship.
“And from there on, the rest of the batsmen, when they come in, it becomes easy for them.”
Iyer praised the Indian spinners for keeping the Pakistani batsmen quiet in the middle overs.
“They bowled tremendously, especially in the middle phase where the ball was turning. As we know, even in the previous game when we played over here, the wicket is a bit slow.
“It’s spinner friendly and the way they have been bowling consistently over a period of time, I think the amalgamation of all three bowlers mixing up quite well, also the experience that they possess. I think that brings a lot of clarity in their bowling,” he said.
