Lucknow: In the unpredictable format that T20 cricket is, Shreyas Iyer’s two fifties in his first seven games as India skipper is at least modest batting success. Losing all seven though wiped out any cheer he could have otherwise found.
The wipe out against Ireland and England away rapidly raised concerns, after he was installed in the job by the national selectors who decided the time was up for Suryakumar Yadav despite his leading India to the T20I World Cup.
Shreyas has led India to victory in the next 10 at the helm, but the most pleasing would be the eight-wicket win over West Indies in Lucknow on Tuesday night where his first T20I century sealed the game.
India, chasing 172, were 35/2 when Shreyas took charge along with Ishan Kishan. What followed was a masterclass in controlled aggression, studded with 10 fours and six sixes, a 42-ball hundred, and a finish with 32 balls to spare. He reached triple figures with a straight six off Roston Chase, and ran the winning single off an overthrow before walking off to a standing ovation.
It was the fastest T20I hundred by an Indian batter against West Indies while Shreyas is the third India skipper, after Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, to score a century in the format.
Lucknow has been kind to Shreyas. The 102* was his second T20 hundred at the Ekana Stadium. His first came for Punjab Kings in IPL. He now has 335 runs at a strike-rate of 200.59 in five innings at this venue.
Though debutant allrounder Naman Dhir’s three-wicket haul bowling spin had already put India in control, Shreyas’s innings turned the chase into a hit in the park.
The century settles India’s middle-order blueprint in T20Is. With four matches ahead in the series, this performance sets a tone. India’s skipper is not just managing resources, he is leading with the bat.
Shreyas appeared to be in a cocoon going by his shots, but he revealed that he was in a daze.
“After the exhausting travel (from the Asian Games), I didn’t realise where I was. Every day I need to wake up like this. Bowling first helped us a lot. We just didn’t look at jetlag as an excuse. We saw the excitement of India versus West Indies in the ODIs and how amazing that was. It was important to stick to the process,” he said after the match.
“I was thinking about my first century, and winning tastes different. If it is your day, win the match for the team. Overall, it was a comprehensive performance. If we continue with the same mindset we will be one of the most destructive teams in T20. Dhir wanted to bowl in crucial moments and capitalised on the turn (he extracted). I love his attitude,” he added.
Ishan Kishan, who also remained unbeaten, said Shreyas was in good touch. “I felt better to keep him on strike. My job was to get off strike and let him play as many balls as he could.”