22 February,2019 08:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Harit N Joshi
Mumbai's Shreyas Iyer scored 147 off 55 balls against Sikkim
Shreyas Iyer blazed his way into the records book yesterday with his 55-ball 147 knock to register the highest score by an Indian in the T20 format. Iyer's dominating show ensured Mumbai opened their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign on an empathic note with a 154-run victory over minnows Sikkim at the Emeralds Heights International School ground in Indore yesterday.
Mumbai posted 258 for four and then reduced Sikkim to 104-7. Iyer surpassed his India and IPL teammate, Rishabh Pant's 128 for Delhi Daredevils for top honours. Iyer, who clobbered 15 sixes and seven boundaries, could well have scored a double hundred especially with three overs remaining. But he was caught by Lee Yong Lepcha off Milind Kumar. "I was going at 20 runs an over when I got out. I could have [gone for a double century]. There is always a lot of risk involved in going for a big score. But it's not a big deal [missing out on a double ton]. You don't play for records," Iyer told mid-day from Indore.
Mumbai were in a precarious position at 22-2 after losing skipper Ajinkya Rahane (11) and Prithvi Shaw (10) early on in the innings. However, Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav (63) put up a 213-run stand for the third wicket to take Mumbai to a dominating position.
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"I started off a bit slowly. I thought I would play the Powerplay overs and keep rotating the strike. After the Powerplay, I suddenly changed gears. Everything fell in place. I never thought I would be able to achieve something like this. It gives me great satisfaction doing it for the Mumbai team," said Iyer about his thunderous Thursday knock.
Iyer said yesterday's innings will help him in the lead up to the IPL. "These are good practice games before the IPL. Leading up to the IPL, this is required. If we qualify for the knockouts, then there are ample number of games to perform," he said.
Though Iyer is not in the running for a World Cup spot, he is confident that such kind of knocks will keep him in contention at least. "Definitely not [thinking that I am out of contention]. My job is to perform consistently. It is up to the selectors to pick me," Iyer signed off.
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