Shreyas also revealed that his every plan came off with Ishan Kishan in the first T20I.
Indian batter Shreyas Iyer admitted that the start to his unbeaten knock of 57 was slow but that the conditions in the middle weren’t easy to negotiate in the opening game of the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka on February 24 in Lucknow.
At one point, Iyer was 17 off 14 balls, but in the next 14 balls, the right-hander made whirlwind 40 runs to help Team India post a challenging total of 199/2 on the board. He also shared a 44-run partnership with Ishan Kishan (89) to set the perfect base for a 62-run victory for India against Sri Lanka.
Iyer told Star Sports after the match: “My start was slow but it wasn’t easy. But once my eye got in, and once I got a boundary, I thought I would keep going. Ishan (Kishan) wasn’t able to time (in the middle overs) and he too was losing patience, so I told him to take his time and then he again started timing well. I just told him to take his time, look for twos and threes.”
Speaking about his plans while batting with Kishan, Iyer said: “Our plan was to hit the pockets, initially that's what we did, and things came out pretty well for us. It's a huge ground, especially after playing at Eden Gardens. We had planned to run a lot of twos and eventually our every plan came off.”
On his own unbeaten knock, the KKR skipper added: “I was trying to stay in present. I wasn't thinking a lot, I thought 180 would be a good total. I just focused on watching the ball closely and tried to time it well and play my shots.”
Iyer also revealed that he had tried to convince Jasprit Bumrah to give him an over to try out his part-time leg-spin. He signed off by saying, “I had already put my hand up (for a bowl). Around the 16th over when he (Rohit) went off, he had already told Bumrah these are the bowlers who need to bowl. I tried to bribe Bumrah but it didn't work for me.”
(With IANS Inputs)