India batter Shreyas Iyer said that the visiting side is experimenting with a lot of things in the middle and is hence not focused much on the outcome right after sealing the ODI series against Australia. He noted that they are using the series against India as a chance to develop specific combinations ahead of the ODI World Cup, which is set to start on October 5.
Notably, Australia has performed poorly in both of the ODI games thus far.
In the second ODI, captain Pat Cummins took a break, and Mitchell Starc has yet to rejoin the starting lineup. Iyer thinks that despite the large number of absentees, Australia shouldn’t be underestimated because they play a difficult brand of cricket. He continued by saying that the team is making good preparations to give their all at the World Cup.
“We are familiar with the Australian team. Given how they organize their activities, I am certain that they are using this game as practice in order to gain momentum before the World Cup. Additionally, they are giving many players opportunities so that they have an equal opportunity to experience India’s circumstances.
The fact that they play hard cricket at the same time makes me confident that they will have a solid plan in place for future matches against India as well as for when I start to bat. I will thus never underestimate them as a unit. Sometimes they can cause you harm. Shreyas Iyer said in the post-game press conference: “It’s always nice to play with them because they are a highly driven team and they uplift the environment around.
Shreyas Iyer, meanwhile, scored a brilliant century in the series’ second ODI. His 200-run combination with Shubman Gill contributed to India’s batting dominance. Later, Suryakumar Yadav produced a brilliant innings for India, scoring 72* runs off 37 deliveries to assist the team reach 399 runs. India won the game by 99 runs (DLS method) thanks to three wickets apiece from Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja with the ball.