India captain Shreyas Iyer hailed his opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson for setting up the record chase of 226 against New Zealand in the T20I series opener and lauded Naman Dhir’s composure in applying the finishing touches. In front of a sell-out crowd at Hagley Oval, India pulled off their highest successful T20I chase to beat New Zealand by four wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the series. India were given a rollicking start by a 93-run opening stand between Samson (67 off 33 balls) and Abhishek (29 off 12 balls). After a mid-innings wobble, Dhir finished unbeaten on 42 off 15 balls and sealed the win with a six off the penultimate ball of the chase.
“They (Abhishek and Sanju) are experienced enough. You don’t have to tell them how to go about their business. They know exactly what they’re doing, and once they get going, it’s just about the momentum they carry forward. Today was just an example of that.
“So obviously it doesn’t happen every time, but once they click, you see that they set the game up for us, and the rest of us just come in, steady the ship and make sure we finish the game,” Iyer said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
He was also full of praise for Dhir, whose stocks are rising fast in international cricket, and said his ability to chip in with some off-spin added to his value at No. 7.
“Absolutely. He gives us a lot of options, especially against left-handed batters, or even right-handers. On this ground, coming in and bowling two or three crucial overs can change the momentum. And I personally feel that the calm and composed nature he showed today was simply magnificent. It was great to see him bat.”
The win came just days after India wrapped up their home series against the West Indies, and Iyer felt the team could now move on from the effects of a long journey.
“Fantastic. Probably we’ve got to forget about the jet lag now,” he said.
The Indian bowlers had a tough outing as New Zealand piled up 225/4, with none of them conceding less than 10 runs an over. Iyer admitted they pitched the ball up too often early on before the dew made life harder for the bowlers.
“So when we started bowling, I thought it was playing a bit slow. The ball was holding up a bit, and we bowled a little too full compared to the hard lengths we should have been hitting. But as soon as the game progressed, we saw the dew coming in, and the wicket was skidding on as the ball was getting through and coming onto the bat pretty well.
“That’s how they got the momentum, and they reached 220. Kudos to them for the effort, but obviously we needed that kind of start. Especially when you’re chasing 220, getting to 80-85 in six overs is a tremendous start,” Iyer concluded.
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