Shreyas Iyer flags fielding concerns despite India’s 3-2 series win

Hamilton: India captain Shreyas Iyer was pleased with his team’s performances in different conditions during the five-match T20I series against New Zealand but said bowling and fielding would need improvement going forward.

India won the five-match series 3-2 despite losing the last two games.

Iyer stressed the need to field better, especially in unfamiliar conditions such as those they experienced in New Zealand.

“We still could have been better with our bowling and fielding. We were a bit sloppy, but it was a great learning experience. Coming overseas, coming to New Zealand, getting to play on such different occasions, different grounds, it was a great learning curve,” said Iyer during the post-match presentation.

It was India’s first series win in a SENA country under Iyer’s captaincy. He had begun his captaincy stint with back-to-back series defeats in Ireland and England.

“The first three games absolutely set the rhythm for us. And then, coming into the last two games, I feel we were in a position where we wanted to experiment and also challenge ourselves a bit more.

“And today was the right opportunity, and obviously, we didn’t live up to it, but it was a great learning experience, as I mentioned,” said Iyer.

Asked about the areas that needed improvement, the captain added: “I don’t want to think much about it, because we’ve got ODIs to play, but the boys are in high spirits.

“It’s definitely something that, when you come overseas, you are challenged by different aspects of the game. And the more you take the bull by the horns, the better it gets.

“We can brainstorm, and we have to work on a couple of things, especially fielding. That is one aspect of the game we need to improve on. But honestly, it’s not that easy when you play under such dark lights and clear skies. You don’t get that much in India, but it was a great learning curve.”

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner rued his team’s failure to capitalise on key moments in the first three games, which they lost.

“We’ll reflect on that, and we know that it was a very tight series. It’s a very good team. Those small moments, like you said, in the first couple of games, where we probably could have won those games or should have, meant that the series could have looked a lot different.

“But from a cricketing point of view, there’s a lot of good stuff. The batting was really good, and then the bowling. The guys adapted brilliantly in the last couple of games. There’s a lot of positives. Obviously, the scoreline shows 3-2 to India, but it could have been the other way around,” said Santner.