Ind vs SL: Disappointed...but don't have any regrets, says Shreyas Iyer on missing century

Bengaluru, March 12 (IANS) Stylish batter Shreyas Iyer, who played a brilliant innings (92) and put India in a commanding position against Sri Lanka on the opening day of the Pink ball Test, on Saturday said that he is disappointed on missing his century but don't have any regrets as his knock eventually helped the team.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, India were struggling at 126-5 but Iyer played a counter-attacking knock and propelled the hosts to 252 in their first innings. Thereafter, Sri Lanka were reduced to 86-6 in their first innings at stumps, trailing by 166 runs against India on a fast-paced Day 1 of the second Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.

"I am disappointed that I missed out on a hundred, but if you see from the team's perspective, we got to a very fighting total, which is 250, especially on this wicket. And seriously I don't have any regrets. When I play on the field, I play for the team, I don't play for myself. The results matter for me and my teammates, skipper, coaches, all of them have been really supportive throughout and that's what really matters," Iyer said in the post-match press conference.

"And I felt fifty was like a century because I celebrated it was like a century feeling for me," he added.

During his innings, Shreyas used his footwork to perfection. He charged down the wicket quite often especially against the spinners to negate the turn.

"My plan when I went out to bat was to cut down the spin (negate turn), so I decided to step out. As I was standing on the middle stump, I was cutting down across the wicket so I could cover the spin and can take a single in the mid-wicket area and I am confident when I do that. When you step out, you play with the mind of the bowler and spoil his line and length," the batter explained.

The 27-year old also mentioned that one can't keep defending the ball on the Chinnaswamy track, where it had variable bounce, so he backed his attacking instincts.

"The players who defended the ball had a lot of chances of nicking it. The ball was staying low and there was variable bounce on the wicket. You can't play negatively on this wicket, just keep defending the ball. You need to have that positive intent when you step out on the field and you know that the wicket is not that great and obviously bowler-friendly, so my mindset was to play each ball on its merit and see to it that I get runs on every ball," he said.