'I Was Very Angry, Wasn't Showing it..': Shreyas Iyer Hits Back at Critics After Successive World Cup Centuries

Indian team stormed their way into the World Cup 2023 final after beating New Zealand by 70 runs in a massive victory at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. The Men in Blue faced heartbreaking defeats in the 2015 and 2019 World Cup semifinals, and the latter at the hands of New Zealand but they were able to end their final four jinx at last.

It was a comprehensive performance from the likes of Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer both of whom smashed their respective centuries, while the Man of the Match Mohammed Shami picked up a 7-wicket haul.

Add to Kohli and Iyer’s centuries, Shubman Gill also slammed a half-century, while Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul both played valiant knocks to help India to a massive total of 397/4.

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While New Zealand fought hard with Daryl Mitchell leading the Kiwis’ charge by scoring 134-run knock, whereas Kane Williamson scored a half-century but Glenn Phillips missed out on his fifty.

Shami’s brilliance ensured that the Black Caps folded for 327 runs, which fired India into the World Cup final. One player who has been brilliant of late was Shreyas Iyer who had suffered a lot of criticism in the previous matches.

The middle-order batter recorded a duck in the first match, he was unlucky to miss a couple of hundreds as well, but has responded to his short-ball critics in some style by smashing back-to-back hundreds.

Speaking to Star Sports, Iyer revealed how he was frustrated when people started talking about his form, but insisted that the Indian management kept backing him.

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“I didn’t perform good in 1-2 matches at the start of the World Cup. I was getting the starts, but wasn’t able to convert them into big ones. But if you look at it (the stats), I was not out against Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then I had two bad innings,” Iyer said.

“Then, people started saying that he has a problem. Inside, I was very angry, I was not showing it but I knew my time would come and then I’d prove myself. And it has come now, at the right time,” he added.

“It’s pivotal, coming from the captain and coach. I didn’t have a great start to the World Cup. They told me not to worry about the outside noise, we are backing you, so you just got to go out there and express yourself,” stated Iyer while talking about the support from skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid.

The 28-year-old became the third Indian player after Rohit and Virat to cross the 500-run mark in the World Cup 2023 and he will be hoping for more success in the final on November 19 as India await their opponents.