Team India batter Shreyas Iyer recently opened up after the two consecutive losses against South Africa, in the T20 International series. Iyer has said that the priority will be the proper execution of strategies, considering the T20 World Cup in Australia, later this year and not just winning the bilateral series.
Rishabh Pant-led Indian side has lost two of the five-match series, already. Despite the loss in the first game, Pant and Co. went in with the same playing XI, and ended up with the same result, as the first one.
The Indian batting line-up couldn’t do much better, as wickets kept falling after every interval. In the end, India eventually posted not so impressive total. It was Heinrich Klassen then who turned the tables around for India, as he lit up the Cuttak crowd with a stunning knock of 81 runs in 46 deliveries. Klassen had replaced Tristan Stubbs in the Proteas XI, then. Overall, it turned out to be an easy chase for South Africa as they won the game by four wickets.
Shreyas Iyer then mentioned that the main focus is the upcoming T20 World Cup and felt that there is a necessity to play with a free mindset. He said:
“Our main aim is obviously the World Cup, so we have to see to it that we plan towards it. So we have that sort of mindset where we are completely free and not thinking about anything else. These are the actual games where we can practise what we were lacking in the past. That’s what we keep discussing in the team meeting as well.”
Furthermore, Iyer, in the press conference after the second T20I stated, “No matter what happens, whatever plans we discuss in the team meeting, we have to execute those. Even if we fail, we will learn from that and grow as a player and grow as a team. So that’s more important till we reach Australia.”
“We will back ourselves and back our instincts” – Shreyas Iyer
Moreover, Iyer added that the plan will be to attack the opposition, even if wickets keep falling. The 27-year-old said:
“We have made this plan that we will keep going no matter what happens. Even if we keep losing wickets, it’s our game plan and in the future too, we will go in with the same mindset. We will back ourselves and back our instincts.”
Written by Prachi Pisal
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