‘I believe Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli batted on a different planet’ – Gautam Gambhir on India’s performance against South Africa in ODI World Cup 2023

India’s star batsmen Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer recently played an incredible knock game against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 5 November during the ODI World Cup 2023 as India continued to maintain their streak of remaining beaten in the tournament. The host nation also became the first team to qualify for the semifinals. 

India’s former cricketer Gautam Gambhir recently praised Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer while he discussed the tough conditions in the stadium, which did not restrict Virat and Iyer from leading India towards a high score against South Africa. Gautam also discussed that both the players should receive more appreciation than the opening batsmen Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill for their knocks. 

“I believe Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli batted on a different planet. This was not the Wankhede or Delhi where the conditions are easy throughout the innings. Here it was easy at the start and became difficult in the middle and at the end. So I believe both should be praised more than Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill”, said Gautam Gambhir while talking to Star Sports after India defeated South Africa by 243 runs. 

Gautam Gambhir on Shreyas Iyer supporting Virat Kohli against South Africa  

“Spin was going to be the biggest challenge. The way the two of them batted against Keshav Maharaj, he might have conceded just 30 runs but the important thing was that he picked up just one wicket, and because of that South Africa had to get their fast bowlers back”, added Gautam. 

“I will praise Shreyas Iyer because if someone removed the pressure on Virat Kohli, it was Shreyas Iyer. That is why Virat Kohli got the chance to play a long innings”, he said. 

“If Shreyas Iyer had played a lot of dot balls at that stage or wasn’t able to break the shackles as he did by hitting two big shots against Tabraiz Shamsi and then three boundaries in an over from Marco Jansen, the pressure would have gotten created on Virat and you would have got to see a loose stroke”, he concluded.