‘The ball was looming when Sanju and I walked in’: Shreyas Iyer calls out Abhishek, Sooryavanshi’s blitz is ‘stunning’

Abhishek Sharma-Vaibhav Sooryavanshi India T20I captain Shreyas Iyer was impressed by the explosive batting of Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after the duo led India to a record six-wicket win over New Zealand in the third T20I at the Hnry Stadium in Wellington on Tuesday.Abhishek’s 113 and Sooryavanshi’s 45 set the tone for India’s dominant chase, with the opening pair putting on a record 118 runs in the Powerplay, the highest total by any team in the first six overs of a T20 innings.The duo added 133 runs for the opening wicket, laying the foundation for India to chase down New Zealand’s target of 199 runs in just 13.2 overs. The win marked the fastest chase for a target past 190 runs by a full member country and the second fastest overall, behind Estonia’s chase of 192 against Cyprus, which they completed with 42 balls to spare.Iyer admitted that he himself wondered how the openers managed to score so freely after seeing the conditions himself when he walked out to bat.“Absolutely stunning. It was pleasing to the eyes the way they played strokes. Also, when Sanju and I went to bat, the ball was looming and I was thinking, how did they do that? It was just stunning,” Shreyas said after the match.The India captain went on to describe the performance as the best he had witnessed at the international level, especially considering the rate at which the runs came during the over.“Honestly, to get 100 in 5 overs, I’ve never seen that before, especially at the international level. And it definitely tops it,” he added.India’s emphatic win gave them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, underscoring their ability to adapt quickly to conditions on New Zealand soil.Iyer stressed the importance of maintaining the same aggressive approach when playing overseas, where unfamiliar conditions and different bowling challenges can test the team’s adaptability.“I think it’s crucial, especially coming overseas (to tell the players to play as they are). You know the conditions are going to be different and you’re going to have a lot of different deliveries.”“And just to top it off with such a phenomenal performance, credit where it’s deserved, the way they played today was exceptional. And of course, having won the series with the third game and two to go, I hope they continue that form and yeah, it’s just amazing how the guys rose to the occasion. The jet lag at the start and then how they rose to the occasion,” added the shocker.While the Indian batsmen stole the show, the bowlers also played their part in preventing New Zealand from scoring more. Despite Daryl Mitchell’s career-best unbeaten 89 off 52 balls, the home side finished on 198/3.With square boundaries relatively short and straight longer, India turned to the yorkers after the first 10 overs to limit the damage. Iyer revealed that he specifically instructed his bowlers to adopt the tactic after realizing that conventional lengths had proved ineffective.“So after 10 overs, I realized that whatever they bowled, hard length or even half volleys, went into the stands. I just said try to mix up the yorkers as much as possible, even if you’re bowling six-ball yorkers. Let them hit the ground or a wide yorker will help us with this wicket.”“So yes, we were able to do that and minimize the run rate to eight to nine; that helped us a lot in keeping them to 10 runs. And yes, we were planning to restrict them below 200,” he added.