Champions Trophy 2025: Shreyas praises bowlers for restricting Pak to modest total, says win margin could have been better

Champions Trophy 2025: Shreyas praises bowlers for restricting Pak to modest total, says win margin could have been better

On a day when Virat Kohli hogged the limelight, Shreyas Iyer went about his job unassumingly, playing the perfect foil to his senior partner, scoring a vital half-century (56).

Following the comprehensive victory, the Mumbai batter was pleased with the way he went about his knock.

“Initially, I was struggling a bit to manoeuvre the gaps. I think Abrar (Ahmed) bowled brilliantly. It was important and crucial for me to play out that spell and, at the same time, rotate the strike,” said Shreyas. 

“I took some time, and once I got my eyes in, I thought the sweep and reverse-sweep would have been a great option to put them on the back foot. I think that worked pretty well for me.”

As India extended its unbeaten run over Pakistan in ODIs, Shreyas felt the margin of victory could have been even better.  “I think we could have won a bit earlier and been convincing based on how the pitch played. It was coming on pretty well with the new ball. After that, it was difficult to score when the ball became old. But if we had played more aggressively, I felt we would have won a bit earlier,” he added.

The 30-year-old also credited the efforts of the bowlers to restrict Pakistan to a modest total. 

“They bowled tremendously, especially in the middle phase where the ball was turning and helping a bit. The wicket was a bit slow, even in the previous game we played here. It’s spinner-friendly and they have been bowling consistently over a period of time. I think the amalgamation of all three bowlers (Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav) mixing up quite well and the experience they possess brings a lot of clarity to their bowling,” said Shreyas.