Indian batter Shreyas Iyer has said he has grown in confidence after scoring crucial knocks in the last two matches against Sri Lanka and South Africa in the ongoing World Cup. Iyer scored an attacking knock of 82 runs against Sri Lanka whereas he scored another fine knock of 77 runs against the Proteas.

The right-hander got off to a slow start against South Africa but he was able to change gears towards the end. Iyer added 134 runs with Virat Kohli, who went on to score an unbeaten knock of 101 runs.

Speaking ahead of the match against the Netherlands, Shreyas Iyer said, “Happy Diwali to you and to everyone tuning in. It’s an auspicious day. We can’t complain as athletes as we are playing for our country. We are really looking forward to today and hoping to put fireworks for the crowd coming in,” said Iyer.

“There have been ups and downs and that’s the part of the journey of an athlete. When you interact with support staff and coaches, you get to learn a lot. Not the best of me but I have been carrying confidence from my last couple of games and looking forward to today’s game,” Iyer added.

Iyer gave credit to the management for backing him and revealed a message from the dugout against South Africa that helped him stay focused.

“Last game, I was getting impatient. I was 11 of 30 balls and I wanted a release shot. But a message came from inside and it helped me stabilize. I’m grateful that everything panned out well,” said Iyer.

Iyer continued his rich form against the Dutch, scoring another fifty on Sunday at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. This was Iyer’s 18th half-century in ODIs and he will look to continue in a similar fashion against New Zealand in the first semifinal, which will be played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday.