Shreyas Iyer Reminded Sunil Gavaskar of Roger Federer: Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar was reminded of tennis greats Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic by Shreyas Iyer’s immaculate batsmanship during his fiery knock of unbeaten 74 run off 44 balls in the second T20I in Dharamsala, that helped India chase down the target of 184 with ease, and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Shreyas Iyer smacked 6 fours and 4 sixes in his entertaining innings in Dharamsala that came just two days after he had blasted the Lankan bowlers for a sparkling fifty – 57* off 28 balls – in the first T20I in Lucknow.
Sunil Gavaskar lauded Iyer for grabbing the two opportunities while batting at number 3 as Virat Kohli is rested, and also the youngster’s gameplay.
“That is the beauty about this particular Indian team. There are so many options virtually for every single spot in the team. So anybody who gets an opportunity he knows he needs to grab it and cannot waste it. What Shreyas Iyer has shown in this innings is the cleverness of his batting. The way he was moving away when there was no deep third man and hitting the ball over, the way he was moving towards the offside and clipping the ball to the onside. That shows a batsman who is supremely confident of himself and the skill he possesses,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
Gavaskar was pretty impressive by Iyer’s mindset to play in ‘V’ at the start of his innings that fetched him; four of his first five boundaries came in the ‘V’ before he unleased the sixes. The 72-year-old said Iyer was “unbelievable” and his hands worked like those of Djokovic and Federer.
“First thing he did was hit that straight drive for a boundary. After that it was…even if he was lofting the ball, he was doing it in the ‘V’. So less chances of being caught because fielders are on the either side of the sightscreen.
“So basically, play as straight as possible and even if the ball does anything it will have a inside or outside edge. Iyer was playing with the full face of the bat as much as possible except the odd occasions. He was unbelievable. It was more like a Djokovic or a Federer forehand,” Gavaskar concluded.
The third T20I will be played in Dharamsala again on Sunday.
