Just amazing the way the lads pulled up – Shreyas Iyer on India’s remarkable chase in Wellington

Team India bagged another T20I series under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy as they cruised to a remarkable win in Wellington, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match fray.

Talking at the post-match presentation, Iyer opened up on India’s overall performance while lauding the aggression from the Men in Blue right from the first ball itself.

He also revealed the message handed out to the Indian batters ahead of this chase and how it changed the entire dynamic.

Reflecting on India’s dominant win, Iyer stated, “Absolutely stunning. It was pleasing to the eyes the way they played strokes. Also, when Sanju and I, we went to bat, the ball was seaming, and I was like, how did they manage this? It was simply mind-boggling.”

Lauding the overall batting performance, Iyer said, “Honestly speaking, getting 100 in 5 overs, I've never seen that before, especially at the international level. And definitely tops it.”

Revealing the message for the team ahead of the chase, Iyer added, “I think it's essential, especially coming overseas. You know the conditions are going to be different, and you'll be challenged with a lot of different deliveries. And just to overcome this by such phenomenal performance, credit where it's due, the way they played today, it was exceptional. And obviously winning the series with the third match and two more to go, I hope that they keep continuing with the same form and yes, it's just amazing the way the lads pulled up to this occasion. Jet lag at the start and then the way they fitted to the occasion, mind-boggling.”

He concluded by talking about his bowlers adjusting the length of the deliveries in the second half of the New Zealand innings, stating, “So after 10 overs, I realized that anything they were bowling hard length or even half volleys, it was going into the stands. I just said that try and bowl yorkers as much as possible, even if you bowl six ball yorkers. Make them hit down the ground or wide yorker is going to help us on this wicket. So, yeah, we were able to execute that and minimizing that run rate to eight to nine, that helped us a lot to keep them at 10 runs an over. And yeah, our plan was to restrict them under 200.”