'Sign Of A Champion Batter' - R Ashwin On Shreyas Iyer & His World Cup Heroics
Ashwin was full of praises for Shreyas Iyer. [PC: X]
Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin shed light on his views for Indian middle order batter Shreyas Iyer, claiming that the 28-year-old has definitely shown signs of a champion batter by the way he batted in the recently concluded ICC Men's World Cup in India.
Iyer, who was playing his first World Cup in his career, amassed a total of 530 runs in 11 games, at an average of 66.25 including two centuries. He was India's third highest run-scorer in the tournament, only behind Rohit Sharma (597 runs) and Virat Kohli (765 runs) and played a crucial role for the team, batting at number four, which has been a tough nut to crack for this side in the recent past.
For the first time since the 2011 World Cup, India looked so confident with the number four they had and rightly so as Iyer became the first batter (No. 4 or below) in the history of the tournament to score 500 runs or more batting in the middle-order.
The batter crossed the 500-run mark with a century against New Zealand in the semi-final at his home ground in Mumbai. His other notable performances came against the Dutch, South Africa on a tough surface at the Eden Gardens and a quick cameo towards the end against Sri Lanka in Mumbai.
He came into the final against Australia on the back of four consecutive 50+ scores, but unfortunately could not carry on his momentum to take the men in blue to their third World Cup title glory. The Australians bowled India out for a paltry 240 and a magnificent Travis Head century propelled the kangaroos to their 6th title in history.
Speaking on his YouTube Channel, spin maestro Ashwin was full of praises for the Indian number four. According to Ashwin, Iyer is someone who chases excellence and knows his strength.
“Batting against spin and taking them down is Shreyas' speciality, and he is a standout performer. If somebody does something unique, people, instead of appreciating it, tell them not to do it,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin further claimed the fact that Iyer is someone who works on his weaknesses and is always looking to improve his game. He has his limitations but his urge to improve his game makes him different from the crowd.
“What I love about Shreyas is that he chases excellence. He took a note to master the pull shot and worked on it. He got out on it but looked at the number of balls he put away to the boundary. He hit fast bowlers above mid-off, definitely the sign of a champion batter developing for India,” Ashwin added.
Iyer will be back in action for India in the last two games of the ongoing five-match T20I series between India and Australia. He will be joining the team as vice-captain ahead of the fourth T20I in Raipur.
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