Adding responsibility to flamboyance important, says Shreyas

Cuttack, Dec 21  Shreyas Iyer said that fans can expect the Indian team to play the same way on Sunday as they did in the second ODI against the West Indies. India won the second match by 107 runs to level the three-match series and thus set up a finale in Cuttack.

Shreyas was instrumental in that victory, smashing 53 off 32 balls, which included an over in which he scored nearly 30 runs, and also effected Shimron Hetmyer's run out with some sharp fielding.

"The previous game was a do-or-die match. If we had lost that match, we would have lost the series. So, we will play with the same mindset," Iyer said in the pre-match press conference here on Saturday.

Shreyas started relatively slow in that innings, going at a run-a-ball untill Rohit Sharma was dismissed. "You have to play according to what the team demands and that is what I did the other day. The team did not demand me to play big shots and at that time we needed a big partnership and we needed the scoreboard to keep going. That is what I did," he said.

Shreyas said that while he has retained the flamboyance he had when he was starting out in his first-class career, he has now learnt to take responsibility as well.

"When I started playing first-class cricket, I was a flamboyant player and I never used to take responsibility and used to just back my instincts and go with the flow. Lately, I have realised that, once you play at the highest level, you have to take the responsibility to another stage," he said.

Shreyas said that keeping the demand of the team in mind is very important. "You have to play according to the team demands. I feel that whatever the situation demands, you have got to play accordingly. I am happy with the way I played in the 2nd ODI.

"Previous ODIs, I played I was batting at No. 5. It's not that I have been stable at No. 4, but in the last 2 games, I have been batting at No. 4. I am flexible that way in batting at any number. You got to be flexible and play according to the team's demands.

"I know that I can play in both flows. I can even play strokes and I can even nudge the ball and take single, so I know my game really well right now and I can play accordingly," he pointed.