New Delhi. Wednesday was recorded as a golden page in the history of Indian cricket. The newly appointed T20 captain of the Indian team, Shreyas Iyer, performed a feat on the soil of England, which no legendary captain like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma could do before. Playing against England at Chester-le-Street, Shreyas Iyer has become the first Indian captain to score a half-century in a T20 International match in England.
31-year-old Shreyas Iyer not only played captaincy innings in difficult conditions, but also took India to a strong position by playing a brilliant inning of 68 runs in 47 balls. During this historic innings, he also left behind the record of former captain Virat Kohli, which he had made by scoring 47 runs in Cardiff in the year 2018. With this, Iyer has now become the player to score the highest T20 score as an Indian captain on English soil.
Shreyas Iyer played a historic innings.
Took command in difficult times and made a record
The beginning of the match was not good for India. After losing the toss or being invited to bat first, the Indian team lost its initial wickets very quickly. India suffered two early setbacks in the form of Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan. Ishan Kishan became the victim of an unfortunate run-out. At such a critical juncture, new captain Shreyas Iyer came to the crease. He was not only under pressure to manage the team, but also had the challenge of leaving his captaincy mark.
Iyer adopted a very restrained and controlled attitude. As soon as he arrived, instead of playing shots indiscriminately, he focused on rotating the strike and building partnerships. During his innings, he hit a hard pull shot off spinner Adil Rashid and later hit a spectacular six over extra cover off fast bowler Luke Wood. Iyer completed his ninth T20 international half-century by taking one run off Liam Dawson in the 15th over of his innings. This was his first half-century as captain. However, this was also the slowest half-century of his career, taking 39 balls to complete (whereas in some records it was considered as 38 balls), but considering the situation of the match, this anchor role was very much needed. Ultimately, he was out LBW in the 18th over on a ball from Saqib Mahmood, ending his excellent innings of 68 runs.
Iyer shines in captains’ statistics
If we talk about the biggest T20 score as an Indian captain on English soil, then Shreyas Iyer has now topped the list with 68 runs. After him comes Virat Kohli, who scored 47 runs in Cardiff on 6 July 2018. Another score of Kohli is 43 runs, which he made on 8 July 2018 in Bristol. Rohit Sharma is at fourth place in this list, who played an inning of 31 runs in Birmingham on 9 July 2022. At the same time, the great captain MS Dhoni is at fifth place in this matter, who scored unbeaten 30 runs at Lord’s on 14 June 2009.
However, if we look at the global level, what is the highest T20 score made by the captain of any country in England, then this record is still in the name of former Australia captain Steve Smith. Smith played a stormy inning of 90 runs in 53 balls in Cardiff in 2015. At second place in this global list is Chris Gayle of West Indies, who scored 88 runs on 50 balls at the Oval in 2009. Pakistan’s Babar Azam is third with 85 runs (Nottingham, 2021) and Australia’s Aaron Finch is fourth with 84 runs (Birmingham, 2018). Current England captain Jos Buttler is also in joint fourth place with 84 runs (Birmingham, 2024), while England’s own Paul Collingwood is included in this list with 79 runs (Oval, 2007). Shreyas Iyer has now registered his strong presence in this special club.
Abhishek Sharma’s storm and Dubey’s finishing
This historic innings of Captain Iyer got tremendous support from the other end by young batsman Abhishek Sharma. When India lost early wickets, Abhishek Sharma counter-attacked the English bowlers. Abhishek hit shots all around the ground and completed his half-century in just 20 balls. He played an explosive inning of 59 runs before getting out.
There was an important and fast partnership of 82 runs for the third wicket between Abhishek Sharma and Shreyas Iyer, which brought the team out of trouble and put it on the path to a big score. After Abhishek was out, Shivam Dubey took charge in the last overs. Dubey displayed his strength and played a finishing inning of unbeaten 42 runs in just 21 balls. Thanks to his innings, India scored a strong and challenging score of 189 runs after losing 7 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. On the other hand, Saqib Mahmood was the most successful bowler for England, who bowled well in difficult conditions and took 3 wickets for 33 runs, which also included the valuable wicket of captain Iyer.
