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Following the series win against England, Indian batter Shreyas Iyer, who had a fine series with two half-centuries, expressed how time away from international cricket helped him work on his technique in domestic cricket and his unfulfilled desire to have scored a century in the series.
Iyer had a memorable series against England, which marked his return to the national set-up after months of domestic cricket grind for Mumbai, which saw him capture silverware as captain as well. During this series, Iyer's game against fast bowlers showed immense improvement, as he was able to dispatch short-pitched deliveries, a notable weakness of his, for boundaries, utilising hook and pull shots well. He emerged as second-highest run-getter with 181 runs in three matches, at an average of 60.33 and a stunning strike rate of 123.12, with two half-centuries. Speaking on the break between August 2024, which marked his last appearance for India till before this series, Iyer said that he worked hard on his technique in domestic cricket across all formats. "The break I got in between where I was working with the domestic team and I also got opportunity to work on my technique as well and especially the drop-in shots which got me singles, it is not about cuts and pulls all the time, it is the balls close to the body when you get singles and that is more satisfying for me," he said during the post-match presentation. Iyer also talked about his strategies across all three ODIs, which saw him bat in different situations. In the first match, he had to stabilise the innings after two early wickets, but in the next, a century by skipper Rohit and his century stand with Shubman Gill made things easy for him at number four. During the third match, Iyer once again built on momentum produced by a century partnership for the second wicket between Gill and Virat Kohli. "In the first game, I wanted to take the momentum after we lost two consecutive wickets, I tried to play the ball on its merit. I just backed my instincts and tried to deliver. In the second game, I thought I would finish the game. And today, Shubman and Virat laid a great platform and that helped me to excel. I wish I could have got a hundred," he said. Iyer also said that leading up to the ICC Champions Trophy, the dressing room feels "electrifying", with every player in great form. "I think it is great to win this series and carry the momentum into the Champions Trophy. You could see in the three games how every individual stepped up for the team. Getting those crucial runs and wickets at the right time was important. We have worked a lot on that and as a unit, we are trying to deliver and create that breakthrough that the team needs in imperative time," he signed off. Coming to the match, England won the toss and opted to bowl first. Gill's 112, along with half-centuries of Virat Kohli (52 in 55 balls, with seven fours and a six) and Shreyas Iyer (78 in 64 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) and a cameo of 40 in 29 balls (three fours and a six) by KL Rahul, pushed India to 356 in their 50 overs. Adil Rashid bowled a brilliant spell, taking 4/64 in his ten overs. Mark Wood took 2/45 in his nine overs. Joe Root, Gus Atkinson and Saqib Mahmood got one each. In the run-chase, England fumbled despite a 60-run opening stand between Ben Duckett (34 in 22 balls, with eight fours) and Phil Salt (23 in 21 balls, with four boundaries) and a 46-run third wicket stand between a returning Tom Banton (38 in 41 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Joe Root (24 in 29 balls, with two fours). England was skittled out for 214 runs in 34.2 overs, lost by 142 runs to register a clean sweep series loss. (ANI)
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