Ashwin’s intent was really positive against MI, says Shreyas Iyer

After guiding Delhi Capitals to a win over Mumbai Indians in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), batter Shreyas Iyer praised Ravichandran Ashwin for showing positive intent with the bat.

“I felt really amazing to bat through and take my team till the end. It was a low scoring game so I decided to stay till the end even though I was shifted lower down the order. I backed myself and backed my instincts. Whatever situation I’ll be in, I knew I would win the game. When you think positive, everything turns out to be your way. He came in and he was really positive,” Shreyas told host broadcaster Star Sports after the match against Mumbai ended.

“His intent was to take singles as much as possible and rotate the strike and that went till the last two overs. After that, he started seeing the ball really well and decided that he’ll take on the bowlers. Both of us wanted to bat till the last ball, so he was like ‘I’ll take down, you just try to stay till the end and make sure you win the match for the team’. The transition has happened in the last two years and we have created that environment from 2019,” he added.

Shreyas Iyer played an unbeaten inning of 33 as Delhi Capitals chased down a target of 130 with four wickets in hand and five balls to spare. Axar Patel was adjudged as Man of the Match for his three-wicket haul.

“Everything has shifted towards us. We tried to implicate all the good things towards each other and we really enjoy each others’ success in the dressing room and we also pull each others’ legs when someone gets out. No one is low, no one is high, whenever we perform well we try to be humble so that in the next game we start from nought. Whoever’s day it is, he has to make sure that he wins the match for the team,” said Shreyas.