Veteran wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik on Sunday (December 25) heaped praise on Shreyas Iyer for his brilliance with the bat in the just-concluded two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
Iyer played a key role as India completed a clean sweep over the hosts by winning the Test matches in Chattogram and Dhaka.
Shreyas had played a vital knock of 86 in India’s 188-run victory in the opening Test while he registered scores of 87 and 29* in the visitors’ thrilling three-wicket win in the second game.
His unbeaten innings came when the tourists were reeling at 74/7 while chasing the target of 145. He put on an unbeaten 71-run stand with R Ashwin (42*) to take India over the finishing line.
“Shreyas has been magnificent throughout the series. One of the toughest challenges in a Test match is in the fourth innings, when you are chasing down a score against all odds. Shreyas Iyer has again shown how good he is,” said Karthik while speaking on Cricbuzz.
“We should never forget these kinds of facts when we discuss about him in the near future. When he gets out a couple of times, we say he should not be a part of the Test team because others outside look really good,” he added.
Lauding Iyer for his calm and composed knock, Karthik said the middle-order batter always delivers when the pressure is on.
“It was a calm and composed knock, giving no chances. He was making sure he was consistently taking those singles. The moment the field was up, he knew there was an opportunity and he pounced on it. The guy under pressure constantly delivers,” he stated.
After losing KL Rahul (2) and Cheteshwar Pujara (6) cheaply during the chase, India sent Akshar Patel as a night watchman and the southpaw went on to score 34 runs while batting at No. 4.
“Team India sending Akshar at 4 was a good calculated move. I think he defended the best up until Shreyas came. He comfortably defended both the left-arm spinners and the off-spinner. Those 34 runs were worth their weight in gold. It’s the pure batters who need to have a look at their game when the ball is turning,” Karthik remarked.
