Christchurch: India T20I captain Shreyas Iyer hailed Tilak Varma's performance after his deputy guided the Men in Blue to an unlikely win in the second T20I against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval here on Saturday.
Tilak scored an unbeaten 51 from 26 balls to play an instrumental role in India securing a four-wicket win with a ball to spare against the Kiwis after they were in trouble at 70/5 in 10.5 overs.
"I feel that every individual in our game is a match winner, and today we saw the example of that. Like, honestly speaking, when we lost wickets, consecutive wickets especially, we thought that the game was going away from us. But Tilak and Reddy, they showed immense character, and also a great cameo by Naman Dhir," Shreyas told broadcasters after the four-wicket win.
With the surface assisting the slower bowlers, India were in trouble. Mitchell Santner took a four-wicket haul and conceded only 21 runs in his four overs as the visitors stared down the barrel. However, Tilak, Naman Dhir (31 from 17 balls) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (26 from 13 balls) played strong hands to secure a four-wicket win for India, who now lead the five-match series 2-0.
Naman has been doing very well in the last few matches. He made a steely, unbeaten 42 from 15 balls to help India chase a record 226 in the first T20I and had also scored 24 off just six balls in the washed-out home T20I against the West Indies. Skipper Shreyas reserved special praise for him.
"We saw him in a couple of games back home against West Indies. He’s a phenomenal bowler as well, and once you get both the parts covered in terms of batting and bowling, I think he brings in a lot of character, and also when you see him move around in the field, he basically, he’s a comprehensive player," he added.
He also praised the New Zealand spinners Santner and Michael Bracewell for their bowling that nearly denied India. "I think we played a lot of dot balls initially, and that basically piled up the run rate as well, and also when we went in, we wanted to actually cruise, but they bowled amazing, especially Bracewell and Santner, the way they controlled the game in the middle.
"It wasn’t easy to strike the ball, but I think if we would have picked up the gaps and tried to find boundaries, we could have easily cruised. But unfortunate. You know, it happens. Just another day, and I’m sure that we’ll bounce back pretty strong," the skipper highlighted. IANS
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