IPL 2019 | Can’t express my emotions, says Shreyas Iyer

IPL 2019 | Can’t express my emotions, says Shreyas Iyer

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Shreyas Iyer has stated that he was unable to express his emotions after Delhi Capitals’ win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator at Vizag on Wednesday. It turned out to be a nail-biting encounter as the Capitals could chase down the target with just one ball and two wickets remaining.

The eliminator between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad turned out to be a roller-coaster ride with the odds shifting every moment. SRH wasted a quickfire start to end up at 162 runs and the Capitals got a fine start with an opening stand at 55 for none in six overs to shift the moment towards DC in the beginning.

However, they lost their top three Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw’s wicket for just 21 runs between the eighth and elventh over. Two more wickets of Colin Munro and Axar Patel followed in the 15th over and although Rishabh Pant with his power hitting took the tally to 12 runs required off the final two overs, both Pant and Sherfane Rutherford returned in the 19th over. 

There was more drama in the penultimate over where five runs were required. Pacer Khaleel Ahmed started with a wide and then Amit Mishra became the second ever batsmen in the Indian Premier League to be adjudged out due to obstruction of field. Eventually, Keemo Paul struck a boundary in the fifth ball to ensure DC face Chennai Super Kings in the second qualifier. The young skipper Iyer was ecstatic after the victory.

“I can't express my emotions. It felt like I have been sitting and watching for years when it came to the last two years. I could see the happiness on everyone's faces. Hoping for another one against Chennai. Looking forward to the next game,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony, reported Cricbuzz.

SRH were at 54 for one after the powerplay but could reach 93 for three at the end of 14 overs. Mishra bowled all his overs during this phase with able support from the other end, as pointed out by the skipper.

“But the start they got was really good on this track. We controlled in the middle phase. Mishi pa was exceptional as he conceded only 15 runs. The other bowlers did well to bowl economically,” expressed the 24-year-old.

Shaw smashed 56 off 38 while Pant hit 49 off 21 but both of them were dismissed before taking DC to the finish line. Iyer reckoned that players like them should not be stopped.

“I personally feel you can't really control them (on Pant and Prithvi). When you stop a batsman like Pant or Prithvi, it hampers their mind and their flow. It was good that both of them came good tonight,” he asserted.

The SRH skipper Kane Williamson, on the other hand, was disappointed to end up on the wrong side.

“It was one of those surfaces that produces such close matches. I believed we had a competitive total after the first half, I knew it would be a tricky chase after the powerplay, with such totals there are small margins, we have been in a position of strength before and haven't nailed it, today was another such day, a little bit frustrating,” he said.

Prithvi Shaw was dropped on 15 by Basil Thampi off Khaleel’s bowling. SRH’s lead pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was also taken to the cleaners for 42 runs despite scalping two wickets. Thampi gave away 41 runs too while part-timer Deepak Hooda leaked 13 runs in his lone over. The skipper felt that a few errors in the bowling and fielding cost them the match.

“Delhi played very well, they are a strong outfit and I think they deserved this win, think they will go all the way. We believed it was a winning total and it looked like it for a long time, they started well and had all the momentum, they had some quality players, as expected on this wicket we squeezed them back and got ourselves ahead, we weren't very clinical with the catching or in our bowling, we weren't great today. It wasn't our best performance, a few things needed to be changed and it could have been a winning total,” explained the 28-year-old.

David Warner had to depart for national duty after he amassed 692 runs and is the highest run-getter of this season despite playing 12 innings. Jonny Bairstow had played ten innings and amassed 445 runs and the skipper was all praise for them.

“Warner and Bairstow were brilliant when they were here and they were prolific with the bat, we were without them for the last two or three games, but we still played very well despite missing them, just not quite getting across the line today,” he asserted.

The 2016 champions had become the last team to qualify with just six wins in the league stage. Their run in the season was a mixed bag but Williamson reckoned that they will grow from here.

“We can reflect back on some games, we had similar matches last time around and we were on the right side of those, not this time though, we were on the underside of those totals. We are building well as a franchise and the development process will have to continue,” he signed off.

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