"Pant is the dominator" - Shreyas Iyer on his partnership with Rishabh Pant
Shreyas Iyer's initial inclusion in the playing XI over Suryakumar Yadav for the first T20I against England might have raised a few eyebrows. However, the 26-year-old silenced all critics as he top-scored with 67 off 48 balls at Ahmedabad.
Iyer was the sole warrior from the Indian side, with all others going back to the pavilion without troubling the scoreboard much. India eventually managed a below-par 124 in their quota of 20 overs and faced a crushing defeat at the hands of England.
Addressing the media after the match, Iyer spoke about his mindset during his partnership with his Delhi Capitals teammate, Rishabh Pant.
"I knew Rishabh was batting pretty well, he had hit one six and a four. My thought process was just to give him singles because that's what we do in DC [Delhi Capitals] as well. So he's the dominator at that time."
Further speaking about his game-plan after he walked into the middle with India reeling at 20-3, Iyer said he decided to go on the offensive if a spinner was brought into the attack.
"I just decided that I would play ball by ball at that time and take on if a spinner comes into the attack. It worked out pretty well for me," he said
Iyer also spoke about the odd nature of the Ahmedabad wicket and explained how it was challenging to bat on it in the initial phase.
"If you see the wicket, it was playing uneven in the initial phase. Later on as well, it was quite difficult to take on the bowlers. We had decided to get to 140-150 and it didn't work out too well for us because we kept losing consecutive wickets. But there's a lot to learn from this game," Shreyas Iyer said.
England hammer India to win first T20I
Despite Iyer's clinical knock, team India faced a crushing defeat against England. The visitors smashed the Indian bowlers in all parts of the stadium and completed a dominating eight-wicket win in the first T20I in Ahmedabad. England now lead the 5-match T20I series 1-0.