Shreyas Iyer made an impressive comeback after a long injury layoff in the 33rd match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Iyer, who sustained a shoulder injury that kept him out of action for five and a half months, played an instrumental role in DC’s eight-wicket victory against SRH. He scored a match-winning unbeaten 47 to help Capitals chase down the target of 135 in 17.5 overs with eight wickets in hand.
After the match, Iyer shared his views on losing the captaincy to Rishabh Pant, stating that he respects the franchise’s decision to carry on with Pant as the leader of the side. The Mumbaikar also praised Pant for captaining the team really well.
“Look, when I got the captaincy, I was in a really different frame of mind. My decision making and temperament were very good, and that helped me in the last two years. Change in captaincy is part of the decision making of the franchise, and whatever decision they took, I respect that. Rishabh has been leading well since the start of the season, so they must have thought they’d continue him till the end of the season,” Iyer said in the post-match presser.
The 26-year-old spoke about his batting and said he was ‘not satisfied, not content’ with his performance as the hunger for scoring runs has increased.
“It’s a really good feeling, to be honest, I wouldn’t say that I’m satisfied because the hunger has just gone up. And the appetite keeps on increasing every match you play. So yeah, I’m not satisfied, not content,” added the former DC skipper.
Iyer threw light on the difference of batting when he was the captain of the side and now when he is playing as a proper batsman.
“For me, there’s no drastic change that I am more focused during batting now as compared to when I was captain. I like soaking the pressure, when there’s pressure, the challenges increase, and I try to get myself in the mindset that I perform well when the going’s tough,” Iyer added further.
