India batter Shreyas Iyer has said that staying unbeaten in all three T20Is against Sri Lanka is a commendable performance from his end and he will take plenty of positives from this. Shreyas Iyer won the Player of the Series award after he scored 204 runs in the T20I matches against Sri Lanka. The right-handed batter registered fifties in all three games of the series.
“Firstly, I want to cherish this moment, I have achieved a really good total in this T20I series. I want to relax a bit, give myself time and not think too much beyond. I am just staying in the moment now. See if you are playing the T20I format, if you bat at top 3, that is a place from where you can pace your innings really well. If you bat down the order, you cannot give yourself time and you have to go from ball one,” said Iyer during a virtual press conference.
“Coming not out in all three games is a commendable performance from my side, I am not keeping any expectations, if you see competition in our team, it is immense. I just want to enjoy each and every opportunity. I like to finish off the games and that is my mindset. I cannot talk about cementing my place, competition is so much, you need to be flexible in batting at any position,” he added.
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Further talking about the competition within the squad, Shreyas said: “My mindset is to grab as many opportunities I can and I maximise it. I am playing like I used to, there has been no special preparation. Every player has their own strength and weakness, my mindset is to focus on my strengths. I do not get bogged down if people think short ball is my weakness.” India won the third and final T20I match against Sri Lanka by six wickets. For hosts, Shreyas Iyer starred with an unbeaten 73* as the Men in Blue chased the target of 146 within 16.5 overs. India never found themselves in trouble while chasing the underwhelming target of 146. Shreyas trumped the chase with 73* off 45 balls – his third successive half-century. Hosts dominated from the word go and chased down the target with six wickets and 19 balls to spare.
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Earlier, Indian bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to the score of 146/5 in the 20 overs. For Sri Lanka, Dasun Shanaka again played a captain’s knock of 74* and took visitors to a respectable total while Dinesh Chandimal scored 25. Avesh Khan scalped two wickets, while Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, and Ravi Bishnoi grabbed one apiece. “Shanaka played amazing knocks in the last two games, he was clearing the boundary with ease. You cannot actually blame our bowlers in that particular situation, we come up with our plans, a minor mistake can go outside the boundary. Shanaka took on our bowlers,” said Shreyas.
