Former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu has commended Indian T20I captain Shreyas Iyer for his impressive batting performance in the fifth and final T20I against New Zealand on Sunday. On the other hand, Iyer silenced his critics with a blazing half-century, underling his valuable role with the bat.
Coming into bat during the fourth over, Iyer anchored the side through a challenging situation, as India had already lost two important wickets in the form of openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. He scored a gritty 50-run knock off 23 balls to power the side to a total of 191/8 in 20 overs.
"He has always been in good form. When people doubt someone like Shreyas Iyer, it's pretty laughable, because whenever he bats, he is a match-winner," Rayudu said on Cricbuzz.
"He just takes the premier bowlers on, it is not like he is stitching up an innings where he is struggling and then he goes about hitting a few boundaries. He just dominates the innings, he controls the innings, so he is a fantastic, fantastic batter," Rayudu, a six-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winner, added.
That Innings was incredibly important considering Iyer's recent run in T20I cricket. After blasting a sensational unbeaten 102 off 43 deliveries against West Indies in India's opening T20I in October, he had gone eight consecutive matches without registering a half-century. However, he brought an end to that prolonged wait, hitting a crucial innings.