R Ashwin thought Shreyas Iyer was named the ‘Player of the Series’ for the two Tests against Bangladesh but the award actually went to Cheteshwar Pujara.
Be it white-ball cricket or red-ball, Shreyas Iyer has continued to prove that he is an all-format player for the Indian cricket team. The right-handed batter continued his exploits in the second match of the Test series against Bangladesh, scoring 87 and 29 not-out. Iyer’s performances in the series have been such that India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was adamant that the batter would be named the “Player of the Series”. Ashwin’s comment after the match suggested that the same but it seems like he wasn’t aware who eventually got the Player of the Series award.
Ashwin, who was named the Player of the Match after the conclusion of the second Test against Bangladesh, said at the post-match chat with the broadcasters: “Game was on the line. I thought Bangladesh played really well. The game had to be won the hard way. Shreyas batted beautifully, if he wasn’t the player of the series, I’d have shared this with him,”Ashwin said.
“In these situations, sometimes you feel you need to hit your way. They bowled well. But we needed to trust our defence. I wanted to get in and support Shreyas. Pitches were good, they were a touch slow. But the ball made a difference. The hosts put us under a lot of pressure. Good performances as well,”he added.
Ashwin seems to have had a slight misunderstanding as it was Cheteshwar Pujara who eventually got the Man of the Series Award. Pujara, making a comeback to India’s Test side in the series, was the top-scoring batter in the two matches, scoring 222 runs at an average of 74.
In comparison, Iyer was the second-highest scorer in the series, bagging 202 runs in total at an average of 101.
While it can be debated who deserved the “Player of the Series” award more, for Ashwin, Iyer certainly deserved to get the trophy ahead of Pujara.
