Indian captain Shreyas Iyer was elated with India’s all-round performance in the second T20I against New Zealand as they took a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20I series. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Iyer believed that every individual in the XI is a match winner.
Further, Iyer showered praise on Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Naman Dhir for showing great character in the 181-run chase. While Tilak scored an unbeaten 51 off 26, Nitish hit an unbeaten 26 off 13, with Dhir scoring 31 off 17.
“I feel that every individual in our game is a match winner, and today we saw the example of that. Like, honestly speaking, when we lost wickets, consecutive wickets especially, we thought that the game was going away from us. But Tilak and Reddy, they showed immense character, and also a great cameo by Naman Dhir,” Iyer said after the game.
Iyer reserved special praise for Dhir, who has been phenomenal in all three facets of the game. Earlier in the first T20I, Dhir scored an unbeaten 42 off 15 to take India to a four-wicket win in Christchurch.
“We saw him (Naman Dhir) in a couple of games back home against West Indies. He’s a phenomenal bowler as well, and once you get both the parts covered in terms of batting and bowling, I think he brings in a lot of character, and also when you see him move around in the field, he basically, he’s a comprehensive player,” he added.
Iyer also shared his thoughts on India’s batters playing too many dot balls during the middle overs, which put additional pressure on the middle and lower-middle order in the death overs. He credited New Zealand’s spinners for restricting India’s scoring opportunities and putting his team on the back foot.
“I think we played a lot of dot balls initially, and that basically piled up the run rate as well, and also when we went in, we wanted to actually cruise, but they bowled amazing, especially Bracewell and Santner, the way they controlled the game in the middle. It wasn’t easy to strike the ball, but I think if we would have picked up the gaps and tried to find boundaries, we could have easily cruised. But unfortunate. You know, it happens. Just another day, and I’m sure that we’ll bounce back pretty strong,” he concluded.
