As India struggled to keep a steady ship at the 4th T20I match against England in Bristol, Shreyas Iyer, the newly appointed skipper who succeeded Suryakumar Yadav, hit his second century as a captain while keeping the run rate at a steady pace. Shreyas Iyer entered the crease after Ishan Kishan lost his wicket to Josh Tongue for a short ball, while trying to build the innings with the opener Abhishek Sharma, who had scored just 16 runs at an agonising strike rate of 114.

Abhishek Sharma was then caught and bowled by Adil Rasheed, who came into the attack after the Powerplay and bowled the seventh over. In a hurry to hit an explosive innings, Sharma was tricked by Rashid, who sent him back to the pavilion.

The senior players, Shivam Dube and Shreyas Iyer, then took matters into their own hands, where they built up India’s 44th 50+ standing run partnership by scoring 53 runs at a slow run rate of 7.60. Dube only scored 22 runs when he was dismissed, but it gave momentum to Shreyas Iyer, who could hit freely and ended up hitting a half-century.

Iyer reached the milestone in exactly 33 deliveries. This fifty also made him the first Indian captain to score multiple 50s across bilateral T20s in England. The skipper brought up his half-century in style as he smashed a six in the 15th over. He finished his innings by missing out on a well-deserved half-century as he could score only 80 runs in 49 deliveries.

X divided as Shreyas Iyer's knocks brings criticism as well as praise for young captain

The Mumbai batsman received appreciation from netizens as he scored a half-century, cruising India to 158 runs in 20 overs in the first innings. Before the start of the match, Iyer received a lot of criticism for not being able to deliver when the team required him most; viewers also compared his approach to the former skipper, Suryakumar Yadav, as they believed Yadav for the team in times of trouble. The milestone turned his haters into fans as they brought out statistics where more than 50% of the 158 runs made were put on board by Iyer alone. His knock was also referred to as the captain’s knock as it brought India to a respectable total.

A certain section of viewers also criticised his approach as they pointed out that Iyer scored 44 runs off 16 balls from Adil Rsheed, while he could only manage 36 runs in 33 balls against other bowlers. This stat highlighted his weakness against pace and claimed that Iyer kept the strike while facing spin, while other batters got out playing against pace. All the other batters could manage only 78 runs collectively in 71 deliveries, while Iyer single-handedly hit 80 runs in 49 deliveries, making him the most effective player today.