Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel showered praise on Shreyas Iyer after England registered a four-wicket win against India at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, on Thursday. Iyer scored an impressive knock of 66 runs off 71 balls with the help of five fours and two sixes. 

The Indian vice-captain was able to hit the ground running and got going after an inside-out boundary against Adil Rashid. In the end, Iyer had no support from the main batters and had to go for a big shot as India was bundled out for a below-par score of 233.

Patel reckons Iyer’s performances in ODIs mostly go under the radar.

“If we talk about ODI cricket, his performance generally goes under the radar. There are a lot of discussions about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, but Shreyas Iyer has performed equally well since the 2023 World Cup,” he said on JioHotstar.

The former Gujarat captain said Iyer has played crucial knocks for the team whenever they have had their backs against the wall.

“He has played crucial knocks whenever India have been in trouble, and on this tour, he played incredible knocks in the T20s as well. In the ODIs, he got a start in the previous match as well, and here, under pressure, wickets were falling from the other end, but he retained his composure and played a knock like this,” Parthiv observed.

The GT assistant coach added that Iyer is a responsible batter as he understands the tempo of the game.

“He is a responsible batter for India at No. 4. He understands the game’s tempo. He knows with what run rate he needs to bat. The best thing is that he knows against which bowlers he can score his runs. He has an excellent idea about his game,” he said.

The decider of the three-match series between England and India will be played at Lord’s on Sunday.