India were in all sorts of trouble at 65/4 in the second ODI against Bangladesh on Wednesday but a heroic knock from Shreyas Iyer of 82 from 102 balls brought them back into the game. Showering praise on Iyer, Indian wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik said that the batter looks confident every time he walks in to bat and isn’t afraid of facing short balls.
“I think the way he has played for a period of time has been phenomenal. He has scored 700-plus runs just this year and you can see the confidence. One Day International cricket is something right up his alley, he likes the fact that he can take a few balls and then start launching. Terrific player of spin and the fact that these days every time he walks in, they test him with short balls and he is coming good, almost every game,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz after Bangladesh defeated India in the second ODI by five runs.
The 37-year-old further said that Iyer would be disappointed by his innings as he couldn’t take the team home. He advised the middle-order batter to take inspiration from Virat Kohli and see how he’s finished games for the team over the years.
“Yes, he had the odd failure which could be due to a short ball but every time he crosses that you can see he is a man on a mission and he wants to be there for the team at the end. He looked good in this knock, he dominated right through the time he was batting. Yes, wickets fell around him but he didn’t give up and I really like that about him. He almost took India to a place where – I think it was safe but if you want to make your name as a player, you want to make a name like what Virat Kohli has done over the years, these are the games that you wanna be 120-130 not out, that is a big difference,” Karthik added.
You want to stay not out in the chases: Dinesh Karthik
“You want to stay not out in the chases and be the guy who takes the country home. That is something he would genuinely miss today. Scoring 82 looks good, and feels good, but it is only when you cross the line – being a middle-order batter and winning such games. When you start doing consistently, you get the feeling that teams fear you,” Karthik concluded.
Iyer has been having a great run in the ODIs this year having scored 721 runs at an average of 60.08 and a strike rate of 91.84. The 28-year-old has six fifties and one hundred to his name.
Meanwhile, India will look to avoid a historic whitewash in the ODI series against Bangladesh as the two teams go head-to-head against each other in the third ODI on Saturday, 10th December.
