IND vs AUS, 5th T20I: Shreyas Iyer hits gritty fifty on difficult batting pitch in Bengaluru

Shreyas Iyer hit a gritty half century while playing the final T20I of the series against Australia in Bengaluru on Sunday, 3 December. In a difficult pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Iyer hit 53 off 37 balls to guide India to a safe score.

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Australia spinners got a lot of purchase in the sticky track in Bengaluru. Lone Australian spinner on the day – Tanveer Sangha found turn and drift and made it very hard for the India batters. Sangha got the prized wicket of Rinku Singh in the 10th over of the match, sending India into a mini-panic.

Shreyas Iyer took it upon himself to turn things around and dug into the Bengaluru pitch. Useful innings from Axar Patel (31 off 21) and Jitesh Sharma (24 off 16) helped Iyer to build his innings and at the end, Iyer managed to get 53 off 37 balls. Iyer was dismissed by Nathan Ellis in the final over of the innings. After he hit Ellis for a four and a six in the first two balls, Ellis removed the batter with a searing yorker in the middle-stump.

This is Iyer’s first T20I series since November 2022. Iyer was bugged by back issues since then and finally got surgery done, right ahead of the Indian Premier League. Iyer had to sit out till the Asia Cup 2023 and after his return, played well in the World Cup 2023.

Iyer was added to the Indian T20I side in the Australia series in the last two matches, and after a slow start in the 4th T20I, did well to get India out of trouble in the last match of the series.

This was Shreyas Iyer’s 8th fifty in the T20I format. The batter has scored 1104 runs from 51 T20Is so far.