‘Even leftovers will taste like wedding food’: Former cricketer’s brutal take on Shreyas Iyer’s maiden T20I win

India captain Shreyas Iyer, centre, with batting partner Tilak Varma (AP/PTI) Shreyas Iyer finally ended his wait for a win as India’s T20I captain after guiding the side to a convincing seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the opening match of the three-match series in Harare on Thursday. The result marked Shreyas’ first win since taking over the captaincy from Suryakumar Yadav earlier this year. Under his leadership, India endured a difficult run that started with a shock 2-0 series defeat to Ireland before suffering a 4-0 defeat against England in the five-match T20I series. Former India opener Sadagopan Ramesh said the celebrations after Zimbabwe’s win were understandable given the team’s recent struggles and insisted the win would be a big relief for the captain. “A lot of people say that India shouldn’t be so excited about just a win over Zimbabwe. Still, when you starve for a T20Is win for so long, even leftovers will taste like wedding food. Shreyas Iyer will be relieved considering India fell under his captaincy. He would have reached a point where a win over anyone would be enough for him on video,” Ramesh tweeted. Ramesh also praised VVS Laxman, who is serving as India’s interim head coach for the Zimbabwe tour. He credited the former India batsman for consistently delivering positive results whenever he takes charge of the national side. “VVS Laxman also deserves a lot of credit. India has performed well every time he is the head coach. India always seem to whitewash the opposition under him, even when other teams keep whitewashing India. It got to a point where India just needed a win of any kind, hence their enthusiasm after beating Zimbabwe as well,” he added. India’s win was further highlighted by teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s historic knock. The 15-year-old smashed his maiden international half-century in just 18 balls to become the youngest player to score a fifty in men’s international cricket. Sooryavanshi reached the milestone at the age of 15 years and 118 days, beating the previous record held by Sachin Tendulkar. The batting great was 16 years and 213 days old when he registered his maiden international fifty against Pakistan in the 1989 Faisalabad Test.