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India National Cricket Team captain Shreyas Iyer opened up on his performance as he scored a hundred in the first T20I of the five-match series against the West Indies National Cricket Team on Tuesday, October 6, at the Ekana Stadium, Lucknow. The Men in Blue had a comprehensive win against the Windies by 8 wickets as they took a 1-0 lead in the series.
Speaking after the win, Shreyas Iyer was delighted with the performance of the bowling department and also praised the team’s effort, who had just played a match a few days back and travelled back to India to play a game. He also praised Naman Dhir, who bowled brilliantly on debut.
West Indies could not post a big total
Shreyas Iyer yet again won the toss and elected to field first. They did not play Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in this match and went with four front-line bowlers. Naman Dhir made his debut in the match, and Windies played only one frontline spinner in the match. Shai Hope’s side had a decent start, as Kamil Pooran, who also made his debut, was dismissed for 12.
Then soon Shimron Hetmyer was dismissed by a run-out; however, he was furious after being given out. Shai Hope, who has been in sensational form, played a knock of 52 runs off 27 balls as the wickets kept on tumbling. Sherfane Rutherford scored 56 runs as they posted 171/10 and could play 20 overs, with Dhir picking up three wickets.
Shreyas Iyer scores a brilliant hundred
While chasing, Abhishek Sharma gave India a blistering start, but the Southpaw was dismissed for 21 off 10 deliveries. Sanju Samson also went back early for 11 runs as his poor form continued. Then Ishan Kishan and skipper Shreyas Iyer started building a solid partnership and kept the runs flowing.
Skipper Iyer played a brilliant knock as he scored a hundred off just 42 deliveries. He remained unbeaten and brought up his maiden T20I hundred with a six at the Ekana Stadium. He was absolutely brilliant throughout the innings, smashing 10 fours and 6 sixes in his 102* runs off 43 deliveries. It was also the fastest hundred by an Indian player against the West Indies.
"Not really. After that exhausting travel": Shreyas Iyer on Team India's jet lag
Shreyas Iyer won the Player of the Match for his exceptional hundred, and in the post-match press conference, he spoke about India’s fatigue from just returning from Japan a couple of days before match day.
"Not really. After that exhausting travel, I didn't realize where I was, to be honest. I think every day I just need to wake up like this. But yeah, I adapted quickly to the wicket, to the conditions, and I think bowling first helped us a lot," he said (as quoted by Cricbuzz).
"We just didn't look at it as an excuse. We wanted to come and play as any other cricketer would, and yeah, we saw the excitement of India versus West Indies in the ODIs, how amazing it was."
"Dreams do come true": Shreyas Iyer after scoring maiden T20I century
Iyer further added about his innings, as he felt it was a special knock and was proud of it. He was also thinking about his maiden T20I hundred, and it came in the first T20I as well, so he felt that it was a dream come true moment for him.
"Well, definitely exultant. That's the word I would use today, (for the) the performance. And yeah, obviously speaking, I was actually thinking about getting my first century, and it came through. So, you know, I definitely want to say that dreams do come true."
