Twitter wants Shreyas Iyer to bat at four ahead of Rishabh Pant

Team India performed collectively to register a stunning win over the Windies in the second ODI of the three-match series on Sunday. While Virat Kohli scored his 42nd century, Shreyas Iyer notched up an excellent 71 in his comeback knock to propel India to 279 runs in 50 overs. With the ball, Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned with the figures of 4/31 in the rain-hit second innings as the hosts fell short of the target by 59 runs.

Despite the victory, India’s number four conundrum continued as Rishabh Pant once again failed to latch on to the opportunity. He looked good for his 20 but played an atrocious stroke to get out and leave the team in a bit of trouble. At 101/3 in the 23rd over, India were in a spot of bother and needed someone to stitch a partnership with Kohli.

Shreyas Iyer came out to bat at five and got going almost from the word go. He rotated the strike well and took the pressure of Virat Kohli. The duo gelled well and added 125 runs for the fourth wicket partnership to keep the Caribbeans at bay. Even after Kohli got out, Iyer kept playing his shots before getting out on 71 off just 68 balls.

Kohli acknowledged Iyer’s knock

After the match, Virat Kohli also acknowledged Shreyas Iyer‘s knock and admitted that the Mumbai lad took the pressure off him with his batting. “He is a very confident guy and has the right attitude. Really got the tempo going and took the pressure off me. After I got out, he got the extra runs as well,” the 30-year-old said in the post-match presentation.

Twitterati, however, is not happy with the fact that Shreyas Iyer batted at number five. The fans feel that he is a perfect solution to the number four problem and should’ve batted at that position ahead of Pant who got out playing a rash shot. Having said that, at the toss, Kohli backed the wicketkeeper-batsman to bat at four and Pant looks set to get more opportunities.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Not sure how much more experiment team management will do with number 4 slot in batting order,but I think that position should go to Shreyas Iyer. Scoring 71 runs but more than that all he played a chanceless cricket. Now he needs some trust n faith from team management. #INDvWI

— Debanil Chakraborty (@debchakraa) August 12, 2019

Three 50s in six innings with an strike rate of near 100
Shreyas Iyer deserves to get few innings at number 4@vikrantgupta73 @cricketaakash

— Amitesh Kumar Tiwari (@aktiwari_bhu) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer looked like a proper number 4. Why is he batting at 5? @BCCI #INDvWI

— Pawan Kumar (@itspawanhere) August 11, 2019

@imVkohli you should have saved this century for the world cup captian.. a little too late.. not sure why you have not taken our star all rounder Mr Pandya. I think you should pick ravi Shastri at number 4 for the next match.. people like Shreyas Iyer were ignored for WC.. joke

— ranjith kumar (@ranjith21) August 11, 2019

Pant should be as finisher ie at number 6,
Shreyas Iyer at 4 and Manish
Pandey/Jadhav should play at 5#indvswi #India #INDvsWI

— Manan(मनन) Hindustani ???????? (@manan_indian) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer should bat at 4 in the ODIs. Let Pant bat at number 5.

— Anupam (@Anupam381) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer Should Be Our Number 4. Grabbed His Chance And Played Good Inning Today #WIvIND

— PBN (@hanjiokay) August 11, 2019

Kohli at it again. Number 42. Also well played Shreyas Iyer. Could hv been sent at 4 instead of Pant. Pant has to be the finisher among the newer lot of of the players. #WIvIND

— Rahul Dravid (@DravidOfficial) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer has taken zero risks in his innings today and has still managed to score at over a run a ball. He should have been the man who should have been India’s number 4, but we decided to go for “experience” back then only to dump the said experienced player right before WC.

— Clive (@vanillawallah) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer is the Number 4 India needs!!!!

— anand r (@anand_raks) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer Showing He Is The Best Contender For Number 4 To Bat In Indian Team#INDvWI#ShreyasIyer#WIvsIND

— Rohan Sanghvi ???????? (@therohanzain) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer should be our number 4. Very composed.

— Malhar Pathak ???????? (@PathakMalhar) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer is a legit middle order batsmen. India missed his kind in the World Cup. I hope he is locked in as our number 4. #INDvWI

— MK (@chokwangun) August 11, 2019

Shreyas Iyer displaying sheer class! He is all calm and professional. We need a pure batsmen like him at no. 4. Pant at number 5 or now.

— Abheet Gupta (@Abheet235) August 11, 2019