Shreyas Iyer played a key role with the bat as Delhi Capitals (DC) registered a thrilling four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in Sharjah on Saturday (October 2).
Chasing a paltry target of 130 on a slow pitch, the Capitals were struggling at 30/3 when Iyer arrived in the middle. He added 27 runs for the fourth wicket with Rishabh Pant before the DC skipper fell for 22-ball 26.
Amid the pressure situation, Shreyas held his nerves and formed little partnerships with three more batters to take Delhi over the line with five balls to spare.
“I felt really amazing to bat through and take my team till the end. It was a low scoring game so I decided to stay till the end even though I was shifted lower down the order. I backed myself and backed my instincts," Iyer said after the match.
“Whatever situation I’ll be in, I knew I would win the game. When you think positive, everything turns out to be your way," he added.
Delhi Capitals needed 11 in the last two overs and Shreyas Iyer and R Ashwin made sure the side doesn't suffer any hiccups. While Iyer remained unbeaten on run-a-ball 33, Ashwin finished with 20 not out off 21 balls.
“He (Ashwin) came in and he was really positive. His intent was to take singles as much as possible and rotate the strike and that went till the last two overs. After that, he started seeing the ball really well and decided that he’ll take on the bowlers. Both of us wanted to bat till the last ball, so he was like ‘I’ll take down, you just try to stay till the end and make sure you win the match for the team’," Shreyas said.
With this victory, Delhi Capitals became the second team after Chennai Super Kings to qualify for the IPL 2021 playoffs.
It has been two awesome years for the franchise since the rebranding, and Shreyas Iyer attributed all the success to the positive environment in the camp.
“The transition has happened in the last two years and we have created that environment from 2019. Everything has shifted towards us. We tried to implicate all the good things towards each other and we really enjoy each others’ success… No one is low, no one is high, whenever we perform well we try to be humble so that in the next game we start from nought."
