Shreyas misses century but makes most of opportunity

MOHALI:WHILE much of the talk at the toss was about the continued omission of Ajinkya Rahane, the spotlight was on Shreyas Iyer – the choice of the team management at the No 3 spot.

As it turned out, Iyer wasn’t willing to let go of the opportunity. After openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma put up a 100-plus stand, Iyer showed glimpses of his talent. He held his own during the 213-run partnership with Rohit, and the 70-ball 88 would have made the Mumbai youngster proud.

The conditions weren’t as testing as Dharamsala but full marks to Iyer for playing the way he did. He was equally comfortable against the Sri Lanka spinners as he was to the seamers. What stood out was his confidence to play his shots, and proof lay in the nine fours and two sixes.

Iyer had scored an unbeaten 140 off 131 deliveries for India A against South Africa A and made a strong case for his selection after an unbeaten 202 against Australia A in February. The young batsman was included in the squad after skipper Virat Kohli was rested for the threeodi series.

Iyer had previously played two T20IS for India against New Zealand in which he failed to make an impression and could not justify his selection. The right-hand batsman had scored 23 and 6 in his two innings. He was earlier called in as cover for Kohli during the fourth Test at Dharamsala against Australia but was not included in the XI.

Praising Iyer’s effort, Rohit said, “It was wonderful to see someone like Shreyas playing with such confidence in the second ODI of his career. I hope to see more gritty knocks from him in the coming matches.”

With the aim of building a strong pool for the 2019 World Cup, the selectors would be keeping an eye on Iyer in the upcoming matches. He is also part of the T20 team which takes on Sri Lanka in a three-match series.