Gautam Gambhir heaped praises on Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli for their gritty knocks against South Africa on a tricky Eden Gardens surface to help India post an above-par score – 326/5. Kohli scored his historic 49th ODI century to equal great Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most ODI centuries, while Iyer hit back-to-back fifties with his 77-run knock.
The pitch assisted the spinners as it slowed down after the first 10 overs. Iyer and Kohli batted patiently to tackle the tricky phase before the former took on the Proteas bowlers and hit some boundaries.
Gambhir insisted that Iyer and Kohli batted on a tricky surface where it became difficult to bat in the middle and final overs.
“I believe Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli batted on a different planet. This was not the Wankhede or Delhi where the conditions are easy throughout the innings. Here it was easy at the start and became difficult in the middle and at the end. So I believe both should be praised more than Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
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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Gambhir pointed out that the duo did well by not giving wicket of Keshav Maharaj which forced the Proteas skipper to bring the pacers back into the attack.
“Spin was going to be the biggest challenge. The way the two of them batted against Keshav Maharaj, he might have conceded just 30 runs but the important thing was that he picked up just one wicket, and because of that South Africa had to get their fast bowlers back,” he added.
He further hailed Iyer for removing pressure from Kohli by playing some big shots to boost the run-rate.
“I will praise Shreyas Iyer because if someone removed the pressure on Virat Kohli, it was Shreyas Iyer. That is why Virat Kohli got the chance to play a long innings.”
“If Shreyas Iyer had played a lot of dot balls at that stage or wasn’t able to break the shackles as he did by hitting two big shots against Tabraiz Shamsi and then three boundaries in an over from Marco Jansen, the pressure would have gotten created on Virat and you would have got to see a loose stroke.” he added.
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