Shreyas Iyer is up and running as India’s T20I captain. The horror of the Ireland and England tour is a thing of the past. The Men in Blue have finally registered their first series win under Shreyas, defeating Zimbabwe 3-0 in the three-match series. The visitors were dominant throughout the series and capped it all off with a 35-run win over the hosts in the third and final T20I on Sunday.
However, the India T20I captain is not taking it easy. After the Zimbabwe series win, Shreyas had a simple message for his team: keep levelling up and do not think about the eventual result of the game.
The entire Zimbabwe tour saw India not giving away an inch, and it was a clinical display throughout. In all the three games, Zimbabwe were never in with a chance to walk away victorious and it can be said that the Men in Blue did not put a foot wrong.
“The standard that we set right from match one. If we keep levelling up or rather than worrying too much about the results, all we need to do is think about going a notch above every time we step out to the field and that’s what we kept on giving the message to all the players saying that it doesn’t matter what situation we are facing, it’s important that we are playing to the best of our abilities and seeing to it that we take the team through,” said Shreyas at the post-match presentation.
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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old sensation, was adjudged as Player of the Series for his haul of 151 runs in the three-match series. His best performance came on Sunday, when he returned with a knock of 81 runs off 49 balls. Shreyas was all praise for the youngster, lauding him for his fearless intent.
“As we saw how fearless they are. They are a young bunch of players who have been showing tremendous energy on the field and intent, especially when you play back-to-back games. Having such energy is what I require as a captain and as a team. And they could deliver today as well, back-to-back games. So, yeah, a special feeling for me to win the series over here in Zimbabwe,” Shreyas said at the post-match presentation.
“Clinical 3-0, so it’s going to be a special moment for me. You see boys stepping up, taking that responsibility and winning the games for you. That’s what you need going forward as well. So, we have created momentum right now, and it’s important that we remain consistent in our approach and attitude. It’s going to be challenging going forward as well, but the amount of calmness that we possess and if we show the same amount of courage going forward, I think it’s going to be great for Indian cricket,” he added.
‘Same number of matches’
Shreyas, who is quite a senior figure within the Indian setup, hasn’t played a lot of T20Is as he was sidelined during Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy tenure. Hence, it is not surprising to see Shreyas putting himself on the same pedestal as some of the other players in the squad.
“If you look at the record, I’ve played almost the same number of matches as all of them, around 55 to 60. So, I mean, experience-wise, there are many players who have tremendous experience because nowadays they play in the IPL as well,” said Shreyas.
“So, yeah, they are special talents, and the best you can get out of them benefits the team as well. So, every time I step onto the field, I see to it that I can make sure that they are comfortable and relaxed because that’s when you can get the best out of them,” he added.