Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel showered praise on Shreyas Iyer for playing a crucial knock in the second ODI against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, on Thursday. India lost two early wickets of captain Shubman Gill and veteran batter Virat Kohli and thus they needed a partnership, which was provided by Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer.

Iyer scored his 23rd ODI fifty, scoring 61 runs off 77 balls with the help of seven fours. Iyer added 118 runs off 136 balls with Rohit Sharma for the third wicket and the duo played a key role in helping India post 264 runs on the board. Rohit scored a crucial knock of 73 runs off 97 balls.

But their efforts went in vain as India suffered a two-wicket loss and Australia has now taken an impregnable lead of 2-0 in the series.

Parthiv Patel said on Star Sports, “He came to bat under pressure. We know how Shreyas has been given the vice-captaincy. Considering the rhythm with which he is batting, you want to bat well, and you needed two senior players to stand there.”

“Rohit and Shreyas together added 118 runs. However, the intent was extremely necessary there. If you look at Shreyas, if the ball was full, he was playing square off the wicket, and whenever the length was short, we also saw the pull shot,” Parthiv observed.

After a slow start, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer were able to change gears and batted with intent in the middle overs.

“You need to show the bowlers that you will put them under pressure, that you are looking for runs. Both Rohit and Shreyas batted with that intent, especially when Mitchell Starc came and the bowling was outside the off-stump, there was no hesitation in playing the big shots,” he said.

“If you ask any bowler, if a batter is trying to score runs against him or trying to play big shots, he hesitates a little and changes his length slightly. I think Shreyas’ intent was excellent,” Parthiv observed.

The third and final ODI between India and Australia will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.