Shreyas slays doubts with imposing knock at home

At the start of the match, Shreyas Iyer would probably have polled the fewest votes among the three hometown heroes – Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav being the other two – to steal the show. By the end of the Indian innings, Iyer’s six-filled 82 (56b, 3x4, 6x6) didn’t just stand out among the Mumbai trio, it also proved to be the knock that blunted whatever slim chances Sri Lanka may have had of making a fist of the target.

- Rasesh Mandani

Sharma the captain has been batting at his aggressive best and he was who the near-capacity Wankhede crowd had come to watch. He lasted only two balls. Surya’s reputation is built on playing shots all around the wicket, and he received a thunderous welcome from the crowd when he came into bat. He hit two straight boundaries to start with, but Sri Lanka didn’t allow him a death overs blitz. There is unlikely to be any nervous person in the Indian camp, but Iyer wouldn’t be faulted if he had some doubts when he walked to the middle in the 30th over. Coming off two successive false strokes in the previous matches – attempted pulls that went horribly wrong had opened old wounds, his weakness against the short ball had resurfaced.

If he was edgy, he didn’t show it. At 193/2, India had just lost Shubman Gill, for 92. Iyer said there was a message mid-innings from the dressing room that the ball was holding a bit and so they should bide their time.