India vs England: Shreyas Iyer's Knock at No. 6 as Valuable as Suryakumar Yadav's Dream Start

KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli combined for 27 off 34 balls in the fourth T20I against England. Yet, India managed their highest score of the series – 185 for 8, which they went on to defend. That in essence sums up India’s biggest positive from the game, and by extension the series.

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For way too long, India have been overly dependent on the top three batsmen: any combination of Rohit, Kohli, Rahul and Dhawan. Even with MS Dhoni’s presence in the middle order, India’s T20I fortunes have often revolved around how the top three went. Technically, Rohit, Rahul and Kohli weren’t top three this match as Kohli batted at No. 4, but that doesn’t change the fact that India took a huge step in the right direction as far as the batting unit is concerned.

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Needless to say, a huge part of that is because of Suryakumar Yadav’s blitz at No. 3. Kohli gave Suryakumar the chance to bat at that position, and the Mumbai batsman took only one ball to make an impact. First ball of his international career – an audacious whip-pull off Jofra Archer over fine leg for a six. Suryakumar is known to make statements: a stare at Kohli during the IPL being the most famous one. This shot was an even bigger statement – that he was here to stay at the international arena.

And then the runs flowed. The on-the-rise punches through the off side. The sweep shot against spinners. The inside out lofted hits. Even as batsmen struggled to get going at one end – just ask Rahul, who made 14 off 17 – Suryakumar was playing a game of his own. The over after the Power Play – the seventh over – is often the one used by batsmen to ‘settle in’. Teams use it as an opportunity to slip in a quiet over, but Suryakumar was not going to allow that. He took Adil Rashid for 12 runs in 4 balls in the over to show he wasn’t going to slow down even in the middle overs – a box that India have to tick ahead of the T20 World Cup.

After the Power Play, Suryakumar added 41 off 20 balls.

“Special mention to Surya, he batted outstandingly well in his first game. Similar to Ishan (Kishan). They are quite fearless having played in the IPL. We don’t have any T20Is after this so I want the guys to be confident and come out of it very strongly,” Kohli said at the post match presentation. “It’s not easy to walk in at three in your first game and we all were stunned. He stamped his authority and allowed the likes of Shreyas, Hardik and Pant to do their job. I am a fan of these youngsters.”

While all the talk will be on Suryakumar, there was another underrated knock by a batsman batting out of position: Shreyas Iyer smashing 37 off 18 at No. 6. Quite a few eyebrows were raised when Iyer walked ahead of Hardik Pandya in the 14th over, but like Suryakumar, Iyer took only one ball to show a sign of things to come. First ball: smashed through covers for four.

Shreyas bats at No. 3 or No. 4 for Delhi Capitals, but has been batting one or two steps lower in this series. He’s generally known to be an accumulator, but with this knock, Iyer has shown he can adapt to new roles too. England were guilty of feeding him overpitched balls in his zone for most part – instead of consistent short lengths that have troubled him – but it still takes effort to hit them away.

Iyer did hit 67 off 48 from No. 5 in the first T20I, but that was a knock very similar to the role he plays for his IPL team. He had walked in in the third over that game with India at 2 for 3, and in effect was playing as an anchor for most part. It’s this knock that he – and India – will value most.

Now for the tougher part for both Iyer and Suryakumar – do it consistently. If they do that, and the likes of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya do their thing, India will finally have the batting depth they’ve been aiming to have.

• India vs England 2021
• shreyas iyer
• Suryakumar Yadav
• Virat Kohli