IND vs NZ | Would’ve been happier with my hundred if India won, states Shreyas Iyer

According to Shreyas Iyer, it was India’s defeat that took a bit of excitement away from his maiden ODI hundred - a well planned and executed innings- and it’s now his motive to finish games for India in the future. 

“I’m quite happy with my hundred but would’ve been definitely happier if the result was in Team India’s favour.  But having said that, we are on the right track to make sure we win the second ODI and would love to finish the coming games,” Shreyas Iyer said at the post-match press conference.

After India were asked to bat first at the toss, ODI debutants Prithvi Shaw (20) and Mayank Agarwal (32) added a 50-run partnership and both openers were shown the way back in the first powerplay. Following that India’s No.4, who scored a splendid hundred (103 off 107) in the first innings, played the role of an anchor while the others batted around him. While he formed a steady 102-run partnership with Virat Kohli (51 off 63), the alliance with KL Rahul (88* off 64) was an accelerating one. At the end of the innings, the visitors were able to post a strong total of 348 but the result wasn’t what they would’ve wanted. 

“The ball was topping and coming, there was an invariable bounce on the wicket so we decided to take this phase and build a partnership and I’m really glad we made most out of the situation and posted a partnership of 100, Virat and I and we ended up scoring 348 which is a pretty good total. I was really happy the way I planned my innings,” he added.

“This loss is just another loss and the team is not fretting about it as for now. It’s not the first loss that we’ve faced obviously, so everybody is in their normal zone and we’ve got that confidence in our team and in ourselves personally that we’ll bounce back strong as we’ve done it before as well.  So, for now, we’re just taking the positives from this game and move forward.”

While India was happy with a total of 348, Iyer clarified that New Zealand had everything - starting from the wicket to the dew factor - in their favour. He credited Ross Taylor for laying the foundation for the perfect chase that New Zealand carried out and finally won the game by four wickets. 

“The wicket became more favourable to the batsman in the 2nd innings, the ball was coming to bat more easily then and moreover the dew factor played an important role. But credit goes to New Zealand who batted very well in the chase of 348 which wasn’t easy at all.  But planned and executed the chase perfectly as one batsman played anchor [Ross Taylor 109*] and the other batters played around him. It was a great win for them,” Iyer admitted.

When asked about the mix-ups caused by India on the field, Iyer defended it by pressing the fact that India are a strong fielding side and while there were a few overthrows and mix-ups, there was enough athleticism to be proud of. 

“Any team can have a bad day at the field and India has a very strong fielding side. All these overthrows and fielding mixups are a part of the game and it’s not that we’re giving up on the field. We’re working hard on our fielding. Besides, the team has taken some amazing catches and caused run outs today as well.”