Windies vs India: Sanjay Manjrekar, Jonty Rhodes impressed with Shreyas Iyer’s batting

Shreyas Iyer made the most of the opportunity on Sunday when he impressed with the bat for India in the second ODI against Windies. Despite making a strong start to his ODI career in late 2017, Iyer was surprisingly left in the cold. But with India now starting a new cycle for the next World Cup, Iyer seems to be in thick of plans. India desperately need to sort out their middle-order and Iyer now looks set to get a longer rope.

The right-hander struck a brilliant fifty in his comeback innings for India. Iyer displayed remarkable maturity to help India post a competitive total after a shaky start. He impressed one and all with his ability to rotate the strike and hit the occasional boundaries. The Mumbai star looked at ease in front of both spinners as well as pacers. 45 of his 71 runs were scored through singles and twos.

India were three down for just 101 when Iyer joined skipper Virat Kohli in the middle. He went on to match his illustrious senior teammate shot for shot to register his third ODI fifty. Kohli scored 120 and added a century-plus stand with Iyer to bail India out of trouble. Iyer has been garnering praise from all over for the way he played against Windies on a tough track.

Former cricketers Sanjay Manjrekar and Jonty Rhodes have also joined the bandwagon as the two praised the India youngster. Manjrekar was the first to praise Iyer, pointing out his technique of relying more on singles and doubles.

“Loving the fact that Shreyas Iyer is batting at 5 & that he scored 71 at a strike rate of 104 with just 5 fours and 1 six…the Virat Kohli way.”

Rhodes was quick to reply to Manjrekar and pointed out another reason behind Iyer’s fine knock. The legendary South African said that Kohli’s presence helped Iyer, tweeting, “Who was he batting with again, @sanjaymanjrekar ? We always learn so much playing in matches, with the best in the world; not just hard work in the nets!”

India demolish Windies:

India, meanwhile, thrashed Windies by 59 runs (DLS method) to take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Batting first, India posted 279 for 7 with Kohli’s ton and Iyer’s fifty leading the way. In reply, Windies were all out for 210 while chasing a revised total of 270 in 46 overs.

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