Shreyas Iyer overcame fatigue and jet lag to score his maiden T20I hundred and said he did not want to use the travel exertions as an excuse, terming his match-winning knock that gave India a dominant eight-wicket win over West Indies a dream come true. Iyer and his teammates had returned from Japan following their Asian Games gold-medal triumph ahead of the five-match T20I series against West Indies, but the long travel did little to affect their performance in the opening game. “After the exhausting travel, I didn’t realise where I was. Every day I need to wake up like this! Bowling first helped us a lot. We just didn’t look at jet lag as an excuse.
“We saw the excitement of India vs West Indies in the ODIs and how amazing that was. It was important to stick to the process. Exultant! I was thinking about my first century and dreams do come true.”
Sent in to bat, West Indies were all out for 171, a total easily overhauled by India in 14.4 overs, riding on skipper Iyer’s unbeaten 102, to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
“Winning tastes different. If it is your day, win the match for the team. Overall it was a comprehensive performance. If we continue with the same mindset, we will be one of the most destructive teams in T20 cricket.”
It was also a dream debut for Naman Dhir, who snapped up three wickets, and Iyer heaped praise on the off-spin all-rounder.
“Dhir wanted to bowl in crucial moments. He capitalised on the turn. I love his attitude.”
West Indies captain Shai Hope rued his team’s chaotic batting and lack of runs at the back end of the innings.
Hope (52) and Sherfane Rutherford (56) had added 63 runs off 35 balls but lost four quick wickets as West Indies were bowled out for 171.
“We didn’t get enough runs at the back end. We were too chaotic with the bat. You’ve got to put runs on the board and defend with width in the outfield. We didn’t have enough against India,” Hope said.
Hope also felt the two-spinner combination put pressure on their bowling resources and said Roston Chase needed to make a bigger impact with the ball.
“Ideally, you want spinners to bowl eight overs between them since we had only two. We needed Chase to do some damage at the back end. So many things in hindsight,” he said.
Hope, however, enjoyed batting in Lucknow and said he relished every opportunity to play at the venue.
“I just love batting here. Whenever I get to come here, I love it,” he said.
Ishan Kishan, who had the best view as he watched his captain go hammer and tongs against the opposition, said it made his job easier as he only had to give Iyer the strike.
“He was in very good touch and, to be very honest, looking from the other end, I felt it was better to keep him on strike and not let the momentum stop. So my job was pretty easy in the middle: just get off strike and let him play as many balls as he can,” he said.
Asked when he realised he needed to take a backseat, Kishan said: “I think you get to know in the middle. How the other batter is timing the ball, whether I’m doing it better or he is. And he looked in very good touch today.
“And I was not looking in such great touch, to be very honest.
“So I just felt it was better to keep him on strike rather than be on strike and try those shots. At the same time, I wanted him to keep the momentum going.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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