Harare [Zimbabwe], July 27 : Indian stand-in coach VVS Laxman hailed the T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer for achieving his first-ever T20I series as a captain during the tour to Zimbabwe after a rough start to his stint. He also hailed the team for displaying a "collective effort" and a "winners' mindset" in the series.
Team India completed a 3-0 clean sweep series win over Zimbabwe with a 35-run win at Harare on Sunday. After a shocking 0-2 loss to Ireland and a 0-4 loss to England in the T20I series during the tour to the UK, Shreyas finally achieved both his first T20I win and T20I series win as a captain during the tour to Zimbabwe.
Speaking in a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), VVS hailed Iyer for his optimism and excitement to play with a new group of players, including debutants Ashok Sharma and Yash Thakur.
"A big round of applause to the entire team. We set out to win the series. I would like to specially congratulate Shreyas because he had a rough start to his captaincy career, but the way he came back, right from the first day when he joined us one day before the first game, he was very optimistic and looking forward to playing with all of you," said the former Indian batting legend.
"It's a new group of players. We know that only four or five of those who were there in England joined us on this tour. But he was so confident and a lot of credit for this victory should be given to the captain, the way he encouraged each one of you," he added.
Laxman also hailed India's "winners' mindset" during the tour, saying that during their first meeting as a team, they had asked themselves if they could exhibit the same.
"We wanted to exhibit a winners' mindset. In our first meeting, we asked ourselves if we could do that. And all of you, throughout all these three matches, you all have done that," said Laxman.
Iyer also hailed the team's largely "flawless" display, other than some dropped catches and thanked the stand-in head coach for "inspiring" the team.
"I think we were flawless, honestly speaking, throughout the series barring the catches that we dropped. It was a phenomenal effort by everyone in the team, including the support staff. Thank you, VVS sir, for motivating us and inspiring us. Each and every day when we stepped onto the field, I think everything that you mentioned was apt, and we could relate to it. So, thank you so much," Iyer said.
Coming to the match, India opted to bat first, with a sensational knock from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (81 in 49 balls, with eight fours and four sixes) and a late cameo from Rinku Singh (25 in 14 balls, with two fours and a six) guiding India to 192/5 in 20 overs. Brad Evans (2/41) was the leading bowler for Zimbabwe.
During the chase, Zimbabwe fell to 65/4 in 7.2 overs. Despite a fighting half-century from Ryan Burl (54 in 43 balls, with five fours), Zimbabwe could reach only 157/7 in 20 overs, losing the match by 35 runs.
Mayank Yadav (3/29 in four overs), Yash Thakur (2/45 in four overs) and Ashok Sharma (1/20 in four overs) were among the top-wicket-takers.