New Zealand returned from the loss in the T20I series with an amazing win over India in the first ODI on Friday while Shreyas Iyer, who played a vital knock in India’s innings, shed some light concerning what turned out badly for India.
New Zealand returned from the loss in the T20I series with an amazing win over India in the first ODI on Friday (November 25). Put into bat, India scored over 300 thanks to a couple of fifties.
In reply, New Zealand had Tom Latham scoring a blistering ton which took the game away from the visitors. Shreyas Iyer, who played a vital knock in India’s innings, shed some light concerning what turned out badly for India.
The Mumbai dasher was glad for the total India set despite the hosts cleaning it off with a couple extra of overs.
“Reaching 307 from the position that we were in was a commendable effort,”
he said in the presser.
“Few things didn’t go our way. It is a learning curve for us and hopefully, we can go back and introspect and come back with new ideas,”
“We can’t play in the T20 mode straightaway in fifty overs because there is more time. One can plan his batting by looking at the wicket and deciding in his mind what a par score would be. One needs to adapt. Fifty overs can change from time to time. Sometimes there can be sunset, there can be dew at other times and you don’t know how the wicket will play.”
The middle-order batter gave credit to Kane Williamson and Tom Latham and heaped praises on the way they handled the chase.
“They played fantastic knocks. They knew which bowlers to target. The way Latham took off in that over, I think that completely shifted the momentum towards them. He wanted to come in and build that partnership. Since they have been playing together for so many years, I am sure they know their strengths and weaknesses pretty closely. I believe that partnership completely changed the scenario of the game and that was a crucial phase for us to get the wicket. If we would have got one wicket, we would have been under the skin and the situation would have been completely different.”
Iyer also said that he isn’t looking too far ahead and he is determined to keep with good fitness levels.
“The approach is optimistic always. I don’t like to look ahead too much. The thing that is in my hand is to train. I want my fitness levels to be good despite the back-to-back games. I want to perform consistently. I want to stay in the present. The players will come and go but consistency will matter.”
Iyer before signing off did mention that they might have improved to keep New Zealand in check but couldn’t.
“We learned that when we got the wicket, we could have built on the pressure. But the way Latham got off to a start, we could have some attacking fielders. We could have put more pressure. But then it is a learning curve. It is not easy to keep the same intensity for the entire fifty overs. Their partnership got to 200, we got a bit bogged down. It was a soft ground as well.”