Indian batter Shreyas Iyer was happy to contribute to the team’s win after the visitors won the second ODI by three wickets at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Iyer scored a fine knock of 63 runs off 71 balls to help his team get over the line in the run-chase of 312 runs.
India found themselves on the ropes at 79-3 in the run-chase. However, Iyer and Sanju Samson added a crucial partnership of 99 runs to get their team back into the contest.
Samson also scored 54 runs and the partnership helped India revive their run chase. Meanwhile, Iyer was a tad disappointed as he could not take the team home. The youngster admitted he should have converted his fifty into a hundred and helped the team in closing the game.
Iyer had also scored 54 runs in the first ODI against the Windies and had helped the team in posting 308 runs on the board.
In fact, Iyer had come under the scanner for his technique against the short ball on the England tour. The West Indies bowlers also tested Iyer with short-pitched deliveries but the left-hander was able to play with confidence.
Commenting on his alliance with Sanju Samson, Iyer said, “It was a crucial partnership. We lost two back-to-back wickets. We were 60 for 3 (79/3), and from there, we had to rebuild. Sanju came in and obviously showed a lot of intent. I was already batting. I had faced around 20 balls and was batting on 15. I knew what I was going to do, and Sanju at the same time, faced a few balls, and then he went after the spinners. He hit them for two sixes, and suddenly, the momentum shifted towards us. From there onwards, we built on the partnership and carried forward the momentum.”
Iyer has been consistent in his ODI career as he has scored 11 fifties and one century in 26 innings but feels he should have batted till the end in the second ODI.
“Really fortunate to get to consecutive half-centuries. But I should have converted it into a century. You don’t get such kind of starts every time in international cricket. The more you convert your fifties into hundreds, the better it is. Today was a golden opportunity for me to convert my innings. But at the same time as long as the team is winning, I am happy to contribute.
“I was really happy to get to what score I got today. But was unhappy with the way I got dismissed. I thought that I could have taken the team through easily and set up the total, but I was very unfortunate with the way I got out. Hopefully, I will be able to score a century in the next one.”
Iyer added that hard work always pays off and revealed he has been working off the field to come up with the goods.
“Hard work off the field always pays off. This is the reflection of what you do off the field. I am working hard because wickets and conditions are changing frequently, and you have to stay fit and keep motivating yourself. My mindset is that I will do my work and try to control the controllable.”
