Harare: India captain Shreyas Iyer expressed delight after securing his first win as T20I skipper, adding that winning the series opener over Zimbabwe by seven wickets at the Harare Sports Club will give everyone some confidence for future matches.
India restricted Zimbabwe to 125/7 before chasing down the target with seven wickets in hand, with the victory powered by two-wicket hauls from Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hitting an 18-ball fifty – his first half-century in international cricket.
“I think the boys were tremendous. Couldn’t have been happier with my first win. There was bounce from good length, and it was also variable. I felt it was there in both innings. The start Mayank gave was great.
“We are going to play two more matches here, so today’s performance gives everyone some confidence. I think Vaibhav has played here – he got 175 in the U-19 World Cup final – so he knows the conditions,” Iyer said after the match ended.
Mayank, the Player of the Match, said he relished bowling on the helpful pitch. “It always feels great when you contribute in a win. So it was a very special moment for me. The wicket was very good. After playing in India, I was enjoying bowling here.
“It’s my first time here in Zimbabwe. The bounce I got and the seam movement was a great help for me. We got a good start from the very first ball, and the way they (Prince and Ashok Sharma) were squeezing from their end was really good.”
Fellow pacer Prince, meanwhile, highlighted the team’s disciplined execution. “I’m very happy with my performance. But even more importantly, we won the match. There was quite a bit of assistance at the start. If you bowled the right length, the ball carried nicely and nipped around a little. The key for us was to keep hitting those lengths consistently till the end, and that worked in our favour.
He was also in praise of his bowling counterparts Mayank and Ashok. “We performed well as a bowling unit too. Mayank bowled well, Ashok bowled well – in fact, all our fast bowlers bowled really well. The most important thing is that we won the match, and that feels great.
“The coaches and Shreyas kept telling us one thing – bowl the right lengths. If a batter hits a good shot off a good ball, that’s absolutely fine. We have no problem with that. But as long as we keep bowling good balls consistently, everything remains in our control,” he concluded.
(IANS)
