Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer has lavished praise on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after India registered a seven-wicket win against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Thursday. Sooryavanshi scored a blistering knock of 50 runs off 19 balls with the help of four fours and as many sixes.

The youngster brought up his maiden T20I fifty after a difficult start to his International career. The prodigy batter was able to hit the ground running in the run-chase of 126 and a six over long-off while playing on the backfoot was the highlight of his innings.

Sooryavanshi had also scored a magnificent knock of 175 runs against England Under-19 in the World Cup final at the same venue and Iyer said that experience would have helped the youngster.

Iyer said in the post-match presentation, “Exceptional batting by him. He’s fearless youngster and the way he approached this innings was phenomenal. So, yeah, I think he’s played here before, so he’s got a fair idea about how the wickets are. He’s got 175 I guess in the under-19 final, so definitely possesses immense confidence when he steps onto the field. So, good to see it today. Good start to the series.”

The Indian T20I skipper also praised Mayank Yadav, who returned with impressive figures of 2-18 in his four overs. Yadav was awarded Player of the Match for his fine bowling performance.

Iyer added, “Exceptional start given by Mayank, the way he bowled in terms of executing his line and length, not giving them room to score runs. I think that’s very critical for us.”

This was Iyer’s first T20I win as Indian skipper and it would have given him a lot of confidence. Iyer also scored an unbeaten knock of 28 runs off 24 balls.

The second T20I between India and Zimbabwe will be played at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.