“He is playing his role brilliantly” – Sanjay Bangar lauds Shreyas Iyer’s knock in the 2nd India vs Sri Lanka T20I

Sanjay Bangar has lauded Shreyas Iyer for playing his role to perfection and for showing versatility in his batting.

Iyer scored an unbeaten 74 off 44 deliveries in the second T20I against Sri Lanka. The knock helped Team India chase down the 184-run target with seven wickets in hand and almost three overs to spare.

While reviewing the second T20I on Star Sports, Sanjay Bangar was effusive in his praise for Shreyas Iyer. He said:

“He [Shreyas] has become a versatile player, reads the situation well and is playing his role brilliantly. In my opinion, he has become an extremely versatile player because he plays at three, four or five and sometimes he has to go at No.6 as well.”

The former Indian batting coach added that Iyer was impeccable in his shot selection. Bangar explained:

“The advantage of playing at every position is that you understand how to play according to the situation and target your scoring areas. He targeted to score runs down the ground against Binura Fernando and against rest of the bowlers, who had pace, he tried to score runs square off the wicket.”

Iyer struck six fours and four sixes during his innings. He gave initial momentum to the Indian innings and allowed Sanju Samson and Ravindra Jadeja to play the aggressors’ role towards the end.

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“The thinking was very good” – Irfan Pathan on Shreyas Iyer’s shot selection

Irfan Pathan also sang praises of Iyer’s judicious shot selection. He elaborated:

“The along the ground straight drives we got to see, the straight pull shots as well, the thinking was very good. The sixes were also not against the spin but with the angle as the left-arm spinner was only trying to bowl straight.”

However, the former India all-rounder concluded by pointing out an area of improvement for the Mumbaikar. Pathan observed:

“There is just one thing that Shreyas Iyer will have to work on going ahead, the 140 kph deliveries coming towards his head. If he works slightly on that, there are a lot of things to like about him – his approach and consistency.”

Iyer would surely want to improve his game against the short ball. With the 27-year-old now also being considered for the Indian Test side, he will want to ensure that this shortcoming does not become a stumbling block for him.

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