Shreyas Iyer speaks highly of India skipper Rohit Sharma after beating New Zealand

India middle-order Shreyas Iyer has praised skipper Rohit Sharma after the team beat New Zealand by 70 runs. In the first semifinal of the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, the home team batted first and scored 397/4. While the likes of Sharma and Shubman Gill scored fifties, Virat Kohli and Iyer hit hundreds. In reply, despite the fightback, the Blackcaps lost the game by 70 runs.

After the game, Iyer praised the India skipper by saying that the latter is a fearless captain.

“Rohit sets the template, gives us the starts where we have to just go and carry forward from the base he gives. He is a fearless captain. You can see that in his body language and it’s kind of infectious, rubs off on all the players,” told Iyer to Star Sports.

The team management told me not to worry: Shreyas Iyer

The right-hander didn’t have the best of starts with the bat in the early part of the tournament. However, since the match against Sri Lanka, the Mumbaikar has been doing well with the bat. In the last two games, he has hit two back-to-back hundreds.

“(On the backing from the management) It is pivotal, coming from the captain and coach. I did not have a great start to the World Cup. They told me not to worry about the outside noise, we are backing you, so you just got to go out there and express yourself. (About handling pressure) To be honest, in pressure situations, you tend to get nervous but at the same time it is also fun playing in front of so many people and if you perform they lift you up. (How intense are the net sessions given the quality of the bowling attack) It is definitely intense. We see to it that we play the most difficult bowler. Whenever Bumrah comes with the new ball I face him because you know it’s going to be difficult and it helps you for the matches,” he added.