Former India cricket Mohammad Kaif heaped praise on flamboyant middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and said he is the best player of spin bowling in the current Indian team. Iyer has regained form after a shaky start to the World Cup as he scored back-to-back half-centuries in the last couple of matches. The middle-order batter made a valiant contribution of 77 runs against South Africa on Sunday at a tricky Eden Gardens surface.
Iyer rebuilt the Indian innings alongside Virat Kohli as the duo shared a crucial 134-run stand for the third wicket as the hosts posted a challenging 326/5 on the scoreboard.
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Iyer tackled the spin well by counter-attacking them which allowed Kohli to play his natural game.
Kaif, who has worked with Iyer during their stints with Delhi Capitals, said that hitting spinners for boundaries is the strength of India’s number 4 batter.
“He plays spin exceptionally well. I have worked with him in the IPL. In my opinion, no one plays spin better than him in this team because he takes single and doubles as well, and hits sixes straight down the ground. We saw him hitting a 106-meter six in the last match at the Wankhede. In the middle overs, when spin creates pressure with dot balls, he finds boundaries there. That is his strength,” said Kaif.
The former batter lauded Iyer’s batting to score against the spinners and said he scored boundaries from end at regular intervals against South Africa despite the spinners getting the assistance from the surface.
“No matter how good the bowlers are in the middle, the runs don’t stop from his willow. Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj were there but he kept on dancing down the track and hitting boundaries and kept putting pressure on the bowlers,” Kaif added.
“He made batting slightly easier for Virat because when he wasn’t getting boundaries in the middle, Shreyas Iyer was hitting boundaries there. So he relieved the pressure slightly on Virat’s batting,” said Kaif.
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