IPL 2018 | Bowlers comeback in death was ‘superb’, says Shreyas Iyer

Saturday’s match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils, which Delhi managed to finish on winning side, truely described what momentum in T20 cricket is all about. Mumbai’s opening pair of Surya Kumar Yadav and Evin Lewis put up a significant partnership of 102 runs and surely Mumbai was looking for a target around 220. Everything looked well set till the 16th over when Daredevils’ bowlers made a comeback strongly by using slower balls and cutters towards the end of the innings and managed to restrict Mumbai on 194 for 7.

In the post-match presser, talking about their comeback, Shreyas Iyer said, "Obviously we were expecting (a total) around 220. But our bowlers restricted the score and really bowled well in patches. The comeback was superb by the bowlers, we were waiting for this win especially against Mumbai Indians. It's a great comeback and all of us contributed."

The last over of the match ended up as one of the most thrilling overs of this year IPL as Delhi Daredevils needed 11 runs from the over and despite scoring one four and six in the first two balls when the equation came out to 1 run needed from 4 balls, Mustafizur Rahman bowled three dot balls to Jason Roy. Somehow, Roy stole one run from the final ball helping Delhi win their first match in the IPL this year.

“They really bowled some good slower ones. Even in the last over Jason found it difficult to pick. But we knew if we stayed till the end we will finish the game," explained Iyer.

About his own batting and how he became more matured with time, Iyer said, "I used to be careless regarding the shots and after some years I realised that if I take some time I could cover up (the slow start). At the end, anyway, I am going to cover up and finish the game and that's what I told myself. We were 10-15 runs short but still 180+ score is a good score on any ground. It was defendable when we started in fielding. We wanted momentum by taking early wickets but we couldn't. They batted really well and did not give us a chance in first 10-12 overs."

Also speaking about his new opening role in yesterday’s match, Yadav said, "While we were coming back to the hotel he (captain Rohit Sharma) said we would love if you open the innings as you have played a lot of cricket here and you are most experienced. I said I don't mind opening the innings because I have played most of my cricket here and know how the new ball behaves."