India T20I captain Shreyas Iyer described the batting display of Abhishek Sharma and 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as “absolutely stunning” after their explosive start powered India to a six-wicket win over New Zealand in the third T20I on Tuesday, sealing an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. It was simply mind-boggling,” Iyer said during the post-match presentation. “Absolutely stunning. It was pleasing to the eyes the way they played strokes. Also, when Sanju and I went to bat, the ball was seaming, and I was like, how did they manage this?
“So after 10 overs, I realised that anything they were bowling, hard length or even half volleys, it was going into the stands. So, yeah, we were able to execute that and minimise that run rate to eight to nine; that helped us a lot to keep them at 10 runs an over. And yeah, our plan was to restrict them under 200,” he said.
I just said, try and bowl yorkers as much as possible, even if you bowl six-ball yorkers. Iyer also explained India’s decision to turn to yorkers as the New Zealand batters continued to score freely. Make them hit down the ground, or a wide yorker is going to help us on this wicket.
“Honestly speaking, getting 100 in 5 overs, I’ve never seen that before, especially at the international level.
Asked whether the batting performance topped the list of the best he had witnessed, Iyer said the pair’s scoring rate was extraordinary, even by international standards. And definitely tops it,” he said. Iyer said the performance was particularly encouraging given the challenge of adapting to conditions away from home. Jet lag at the start and then the way they fitted to the occasion, mind-boggling,” he said.
“I think it’s essential, especially coming overseas. You know the conditions are going to be different, and you’ll be challenged with a lot of different deliveries. And obviously, winning the series with the third match and two more to go, I hope that they keep continuing with the same form, and yes, it’s just amazing the way the lads pulled up to this occasion.
And just to overcome this by such phenomenal performance, credit where it’s due, the way they played today, it was exceptional.
