'He had big shoes to fill' - Rohit Sharma lauds Shreyas Iyer's stellar show against Sri Lanka

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma lauded Shreyas Iyer’s stellar show following his team’s 2-0 Test series triumph over Sri Lanka. During the Day-Night Test in Bengaluru, Shreyas showed immense character and slammed quickfire half-centuries in both innings. Notably, the track had a lot of assistance for bowlers as many batters failed to get going. In such conditions, the right-handed batter recorded scores of 92 and 67, which earned him the Player-of-the-Match award.

It must be noted that the BCCI selectors had dropped big guns like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane for this series as India’s batting order wore a new look. While Hanuma Vihari was given Pujara’s number-three slot, Iyer took Rahane’s place in the line-up. The right-handed batter certainly had big boots to fill and he did an impressive job. Highlighting the same, Rohit lavished praises on Iyer.

Shreyas Iyer carried his form from the T20 series against Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma

“Shreyas just carried on from where he left off in the T20 series against Sri Lanka. He seemed to carry that form into the Test series,” said Rohit after the match. “He knew he was stepping into the big shoes of guys like Rahane and Pujara, but he has everything that he requires. He will be better now when he starts travelling,” he added.

Meanwhile, Iyer has now become of one India’s regular across all formats. While the 27-year-old has been with the white-ball team since a while, he burst onto the scenes in Test arena during the home series against New Zealand last year. He became the first Indian to slam a century and a fifty on Test debut, impressing one and all.

Although he didn’t play in the Test series against South Africa earlier this year due to a stomach infection, Iyer made full use of the chance he got against Sri Lanka. Notably, the World Test Championship final is set to take place next year. Hence, Iyer would like to continue his stellar run in the purest format of the game.