World Cup 2023: I took pills for the cramps – Shreyas Iyer after scoring match-winning knock against Netherlands

Indian batter Shreyas Iyer revealed he took pills for the cramps during his unbeaten knock of 128 runs off 94 balls against the Netherlands at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday. Iyer’s maiden World Cup century helped India post their second-highest score (410) in World Cup history and the hosts registered a convincing win of 160 runs to make it 9-0 in the league stage.

After scoring 82 and 77 in the last two matches against Sri Lanka and South Africa respectively, Iyer continued his good form against the Dutch but was seen cramping a bit. He added 208 runs for the fourth wicket (highest in World Cup history) with KL Rahul, who scored the fastest World Cup century for India off 62 balls.

Iyer scored 10 fours and five maximums in his blistering knock as he played at the top of his game. In fact, Iyer was under the pump after the middle stage of the league stage as he was troubled by short-pitched delivery but he has bounced back strongly in the last three matches.

The Mumbai batter was awarded Player of the Match for his fine knock against the Dutch.

He said after the game, “I got a deja vu, this happened with Australia too, but I threw my wicket away (not today though), but I wanted to come not out this time. I took pills for the cramps. I feel the recent scores helped me in this innings.”

He added, “The wicket was tacky and two-paced, I just wanted to capitalize on the start and I was able to do that. I have worked a lot on that (straight) shot, I was just trying to hit it straight. It’s about keeping the head straight and about the followthrough of the bat once I am trying to play the slog shot.”

Iyer will want to continue the good form in the all-important semifinal against New Zealand and he is going to hold the key while batting at number four.

The first semifinal will be played between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai on Wednesday.