Shreyas Iyer Reacts to India’s Comprehensive Win Over Pakistan After Collective Team Effort To Claim Gold

Indian men’s cricket team has added another Gold medal to the nation’s medal tally at the Asian Games after they beat neighbours and arch-rivals Pakistan in the finals. When asked about how he is feeling after the glorious win in the Gold-medal match, Shreyas Iyer, the Indian captain said, "ecstatic." Team India won the game by 19 runs and defended their Asian Games Gold medal successfully and they have now joined the Indian women’s cricket team as the Asian Games champions.

Speaking after the match, Iyer said, “since the day we arrived in Japan, it was raining cats and dogs, and we couldn’t practice for almost a week. But the boys, the way they prepped themselves, and also we were doing our training on the side, we didn't complain, we didn't give any excuse so that was the sign of a champion team, and today was just the reflection of that.”

The weather affected all the semi-finalists - India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh equally. If anything, by playing Japan in a one-off T20I prior to the Asian Games, though it was only a five-over-a-side match because of the bad weather, India had a bit more of a feel of the conditions in Japan as compared to other teams when all the four quarter-finals were affected.

Finalists, Pakistan reached the Gold-medal match after they sent Bangladesh packing home while India got the better of Sri Lanka. In the final, it seemed like a one-way traffic for India as they put a challenging score on board in excess of 200 considering the condition in Nisshin.

During the chase, Pakistan were slow to get off to a start. During the first 10 overs, they seemed nowhere near reaching the target and were 76 for 3. But then a blistering innings by Hasan Nawaz brought Pakistan right back into the match and the target seemed very achievable; he scored a brilliant 96 off 51 balls and made the contest more interesting than it seemed earlier.

Speaking after the match, Iyer said, “well they were cruising pretty well, and they got that momentum in between. I just wanted to see to it that I get that fifth bowler out of the way as soon as possible, finish it off, and then Bumrah was there, Washy was there. The lead bowlers, they wanted to come in as well.”

From India’s point of view, it was a complete team effort. Opener Abhishek Sharma and vice-captain of the team for the Asian Games campaign Tilak Varma scored brilliant half-centuries, before another left hander, Shivam Dube gave Indian innings a much-needed impetus as he scored 15-ball 27 runs. From a bowling point of view, all-rounders Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube picked up two wickets each.

Iyer added, When you are playing in a final, you want each and every individual to step up and deliver, and that is what we witnessed today. Abhishek giving us that start, and then Tilak basically finishing off the innings and then in the bowling department, Washy taking the charge, Axar being himself all the time and Bumrah, we know what has got in his armoury. So yeah, collective effort and overall I would say a comprehensive win.”