Shreyas Iyer shared his thoughts following Mumbai’s convincing 10-wicket victory over Andhra in the ongoing Ranji Trophy at the MCA Cricket Ground in Maharashtra. Expressing his commitment to attacking cricket regardless of the circumstances, Iyer emphasized the importance of playing with an aggressive mindset.
The star Indian batter, making a return to the premier domestic competition after five years, played a crucial role in the match with a run-a-ball 48.
Shreyas Iyer said after the game: “I’m going to play attacking irrespective of the situation. And also when you bowl negative, when you bowl safe and defensive at the start, you want to score runs and you need to take your team through up to a certain point. So that was my mindset and that’s why stuck with. Yeah, I was happy [with my knock] irrespective of the score.”
Shreyas Iyer facing as many balls as he can before the Tests begin #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/ryPjPE6iDc
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 15, 2024
As he prepares for the upcoming five-match Test series against England, Iyer seemed content with his performance, highlighting his satisfaction regardless of the score. Batting at No. 5 in the first innings, Iyer mentioned the limited opportunities he had in the game, crediting the Andhra bowlers for restricting him from playing to his strengths.
Despite facing what he termed as “negative” tactics from the bowlers, including short-pitched deliveries, Iyer handled the situation adeptly, frequently flicking full deliveries during his innings.
He further added: [As] I said, they were bowling defensive and they didn’t let me play to my strengths. Even though they started with the short balls, I was able to execute them for boundaries and get a lot of runs out of it. Again, they were bowling negative so there was literally no scope to…other than leaving the ball I couldn’t have done much. I knew that leaving the ball would, to be honest, bore me. I would rather go and play some strokes. That’s what I considered at that point of time.”
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