The first five balls were really difficult for me: Shreyas opens up about the pangs of the Chinnaswamy surface

Shreyas Iyer was adjudged as the man of the match for the second Test after a couple of dominating displays with the bat. Riding on his fine 92 in the first innings, India posted 252 on the cards while it was the same Iyer who joined forces with Pant to usher the hosts to a decent total in the second.

The right-handed batter opened up about the travails of batting on the Chinnaswamy surface as the ball kept low in most of the occasions, making life a living hell for the batters. India’s hero of the second Test opened up about how he felt while batting at Bengaluru’s mysterious surface.

Iyer was heard quoting, “I personally felt that fifty was like a century. That's why I celebrated like that. It was like a century feeling for me.”

He further added, “You saw the players who defended the ball, there was a lot of chance of nicking, and there was variable bounce on that wicket. You can't just play very negatively on that wicket and just keep defending the ball. You've got to have that positive intent when you step out on the field. The wicket is not that great. It's obviously bowler-friendly."

Iyer also shed light on a conversation that happened during the break, after which he went all guns blazing at the visitors. He said, “The first five balls were really difficult for me because I went into bat just before tea. I was very nervous at that point in time and wanted to play through those two overs. After that, I came in, and we discussed with the coaches that this is what I'm going to plan and do on the wicket. I'm really happy I executed it really well.”

He concluded by saying about his missed century as he cited, “I'm disappointed I didn't get a hundred, but as a team, we got to over 250 which on this wicket is a fighting total. I don't have any regrets."