Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif praised Shreyas Iyer’s decision to bat first against Japan in the historic one-off T20I at the Sano International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. The match was reduced to five overs per innings due to wet outfield but Iyer decided to bat first in challenging batting conditions.

Mostly, it is noted that a captain decides to field first in a truncated game but Iyer had other ideas. India could only post 32 runs on the board on a slow and low pitch, with Iyer top-scoring with 16 runs off 12 deliveries.

Eventually, India registered a thrilling two-run win after Axar Patel defended eight runs in the final over.

“Usually, no one bats first in a five-over game. The thinking would have been that small teams find it difficult to chase and win. They lose most of the time. It was a brave call from the Indian team, and it was tactically the right call against a small team. You lost while chasing in Ireland. Small teams cannot finish games despite being ahead in patches. I will praise Shreyas for this call. Show me any game apart from one or two where a small team has won against a big team while chasing,” Kaif said in a video on his YouTube channel.

The former UP batter highlighted that chances of an upset are higher in a shorter format against emerging teams.

“I will not go into depth about this match or analyse a lot. Most of the upsets always happen in the shorter format. In this format, on the day, even one player can defeat a big team. India can have a bad day, and it can go here and there. This was just five overs, not even 20. So the chances are higher. Such a game was not even expected. It was close, but somehow they won the game,” Mohammad Kaif expressed.

India’s T20I team will next participate in the Asian Games.