Shreyas Iyer Was Brave Under Pressure: Virat Kohli

Mighty impressed with Iyer's maturity on the field, skipper Virat Kohli said Iyer has presented a strong case for himself to be a regular feature of the team in the limited-overs format

Indian captain Virat Kohli praised 'number 4' batsman Shreyas Iyer for playing a big role in India's 2-0 series win against the West Indies as he gave able support to captain Virat Kohli who scored 120 and 114* in the last two ODIs against the hosts. Kohli and Iyer had partnerships of 125 and 120 in the second and third ODIs under tricky situations respectively. Mighty impressed with Iyer's maturity on the field, skipper Virat Kohli was all praise for young batsman, saying the 24-year-old has presented a strong case for himself to be a regular feature of the team in the limited-overs format. "He understood the value of performing in these situations," Kohli at the Queen's Park Oval on Wednesday. "It will only boost his confidence further. I was exactly the same when I came in -- any opportunity I got I wanted to win games for my team and play according to the situation and you have to take risks. He was brave under pressure. You need to reveal your game to realise who you are, what your game is and what kind of a player you are." Iyer scored 71 and 65 in the two innings he played in the Caribbean Islands and has turned out to be a "strong contender and a regular feature in the middle order" if he continued to take responsibility like he did during this series, said Kohli. "Both times he was batting with me, I've been around for a while, and he wasn't intimidated at all, he was very confident, very sure of his game. I think that is great to watch, hopefully he will build on to this and keep performing like this for the team," said Kohli. "Today we were under a bit of pressure, I think Shreyas, the way he played took all the pressure off me and I could just play with my usual tempo and control the game from one end," he added. On Wednesday, Kohli remained unbeaten at 114 which came off just 99 balls and made sure India crossed the line without any hiccups. "I have been around for a while. Experience counts in pressure situations, understanding where the game is heading and what I need to do in terms of the tempo of the game," he said. "So, you obviously want to take a lot of pride in stepping up for the team as much as you can and I definitely take a lot of pride in that," he added. India will now take on West Indies in the two-match Test series, which will also see them beginning their World Test Championship from August 22.