Movie Night To Batting Blitz: Iyer Turns India Hero

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) India's Shreyas Iyer on Thursday said star batsman Virat Kohli's late injury call cut short his movie night before he turned hero in the team's opening ODI win over England.

Iyer replaced Kohli in India's XI at the start of the three-match series in Nagpur and smashed 59 off 36 deliveries to help pull off a 249-run chase with four wickets and 11.2 overs to spare.

"It's been outstanding," Iyer told broadcasters. "I wasn't supposed to play the first game as we all know. Virat unfortunately got injured and I got the opportunity. But I kept myself prepared."

He added: "So, funny story. I was watching a movie last night. I thought that I could extend my night. Then I got a call from the skipper saying that you may play because Virat has got a sore knee. And then I hurried back to my room, went off to sleep straight away."

Iyer walked into bat with skipper Rohit Sharma out for two and India 19-2 when the IPL-winning captain smashed the opposition bowlers to all parts of the ground.

He put on 94 runs with Shubman Gill, who made 87.

The batsman's blitz was studded with nine fours and two sixes as he set-up India's 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Chasing just 249 for victory without Kohli, who missed the start of the three-match series due to a sore right knee, India lost their openers early on.

But Iyer's counter-attack and Gill's superbly paced innings dragged India over the line.

"Pretty happy because we knew we were coming after a long time to this format," skipper Rohit Sharma said. "We wanted to quickly regroup and understand what is to be done."

The ODIs come ahead of the Champions Trophy, starting February 19, and Rohit believes his team are in good shape ahead of the tournament in Pakistan and Dubai.

"Nothing specific, overall as a team I want to make sure we keep on doing the right things," he said. "Try and tick every boxes there is to be ticked in bowling and batting."

Gill also put on 108 runs with Axar Patel, who hit 52 after being promoted up the order, to continue India's strong form after they also clinched the preceding T20 series 4-1.

Fast bowler Saqib Mahmood denied Gill a century as he and leg-spinner Adil Rashid took two wickets each to give England some late positives in an otherwise comfortable chase.

India's bowlers set up the victory, with debutant Harshit Rana and spinner Ravindra Jadeja claiming three wickets each to help bowl out a stuttering England for 248 in 47.4 overs.

England's new-ball pair came out firing in their bid to defend the low total and Jofra Archer had ODI debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal caught behind for 15.

Rohit fell, on two, five balls later after his mis-timed flick went high up and into the hands of Liam Livingstone at mid-on off Mahmood.

A struggling Rohit, who averages just 10.37 in his 16 innings across formats in the 2024-25 season, walked back to stunned silence with India on 19-2.

Iyer soon turned the tide with a flurry of boundaries and raced to his 50 in 30 balls to raise the spirits of the home crowd.

Jacob Bethell trapped Iyer lbw after he had smashed nine fours and two sixes in his 36-ball blitz.

England opted to bat first on a hot and sunny afternoon, but lost regular wickets and failed to bat out their 50 overs -- despite skipper Jos Buttler's 52 and 51 from Bethell.

Phil Salt hammered Rana for three sixes and two fours in a 26-run sixth over but a mix-up with fellow opener Ben Duckett saw him run out for 43.

"I think Salt and Duckett came out and played brilliantly in that powerplay, put the opposition under a lot of pressure and then an unfortunate run-out changed the momentum and we lost four wickets quite quickly, which set us back," Buttler told reporters.

"We were probably another 40 or 50 runs (short) on that total -- with the way the wicket was turning at the end, we would have been in a good position to try to win the game."

Rana came back from that pasting with two wickets in one over including Duckett, for 32, and Harry Brook, for a duck, to leave England at 77-3.

Buttler attempted to pull things back, first with Joe Root, who made 19 on his ODI return, and then Bethell, but England collapsed.

The second ODI is on Sunday in Cuttack.

Brief scores:

England 248 all out in 47.4 overs (J. Buttler 52, J. Bethell 51; H. Rana 3-53, R. Jadeja 3-26) v India 251-6 in 38.4 overs (S. Gill 87, S. Iyer 59, A. Patel 52; S. Mahmood 2-47, A. Rashid 2-49)

Result: India won by four wickets

Toss: England

Series: India lead the three-match series 1-0

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