Indian T20I captain Shreyas Iyer shared his views on India’s excellent performance in the second T20I against New Zealand. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Iyer strongly believes that the Indian team has multiple match-winners.
Additionally, Iyer heaped praise on Indian middle-order batters Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Naman Dhir for showing great character in the 181-run chase. Notably, the trio turned the game upside down after India was reeling at 71/5 in 11 overs.
“I feel that every individual in our team is a match winner, and today we saw the example of that. Like, honestly speaking, when we lost wickets, consecutive wickets especially, we thought that the game was going away from us. But Tilak and Reddy, they showed immense character, and also a great cameo by Naman Dhir,” Iyer said after the game.
Further, Iyer hailed Dhir for being impressive in all aspects of the game. For the unversed, Dhir scored an unbeaten 42 off 15 to take India to a four-wicket win in the first T20I at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
“We saw him (Naman Dhir) in a couple of games back home against West Indies. He’s a phenomenal bowler as well, and once you get both the parts covered in terms of batting and bowling, I think he brings in a lot of character, and also when you see him move around in the field, he basically, he’s a comprehensive player,” he added.
In the game, New Zealand batted first and posted a daunting total of 180/5 in 20 overs. Glenn Phillips (70) and Bevon Jacobs (58) shone in the first innings. Seamer Arshdeep Singh scalped two wickets.
In the second innings, India took 19.5 overs to finish the game with four wickets in hand. Tilak Varma (51*), Naman Dhir (31) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (26*) were excellent in the chase to take a 2-0 lead.
