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‘He reinvented himself. He has scored runs everywhere’: Saba Karim reserves special praise for star India batter
Former India player Saba Karim was appreciate of the star batter's exploits in the recently-concluded T20I series against Sri Lanka.
The recently-concluded India-Sri Lanka T20I series will be remembered for two things. One, of course, because of the hosts cruising to a third consecutive T20 clean sweep (after thrashing New Zealand and West Indies). Secondly, for Shreyas Iyer and his ‘Player of the Series’ performances across the three T20I matches. Former wicketkeeper-batter Saba Karim, by the looks of it, is going with the latter.
Iyer amassed 204 runs in three hits and was not dismissed even once by the Lankans. In the first match at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, he scored a quickfire 57 off 28 balls. At the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala, he smashed an unbeaten 74 (off 44 balls) and 73 not-out (off 45 balls) in the second and third T20I, respectively, to guide Rohit Sharma's troops to another resounding win.
While speaking on the "Khelneeti" podcast, Karim was all praise for Iyer and his batsmanship.
“Shreyas Iyer has reinvented his game. If you look at the pattern of his game, this becomes evidently clear. We call Suryakumar Yadav a 360 degree player but I was looking at Shreyas’ wagon wheel in the three games against Sri Lanka. Except the area behind the keeper, he has scored runs everywhere. He has found his template to score runs. Having said that, there are bigger challenges ahead for him,” Karim commented.
Rajkumar Sharma, Virat Kohli's childhood coach, also praised Iyer's exploits but stated that now is not the right time for him to be slotted at No.3 instead of his ward.
“Both Windies and Lanka were weak opponents. India will face quality oppositions going forward. To replace someone who has been your No.3 for 10 years, you need someone who has done something exceptional. Also, one has to look at whether the player batting at the position currently is performing or not. Too early to think of it, but I am glad Shreyas is establishing himself in the middle-order," he said.
