"Cricket's obsession with milestones is just ridiculous" - Aakash Chopra says Shreyas Iyer's 92 was no less than any 150

Aakash Chopra has said that Shreyas Iyer might not have breached the three-figure mark in Team India's first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka, but his knock was worth more than a hundred.

Iyer scored 92 off 98 deliveries in India's first innings total of 252. Their bowlers then struck back to reduce Sri Lanka to 86-6 by Stumps on Day 1.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra highlighted that a milestone like a century cannot define the value of Iyer's knock. He elaborated in this regard:

"Cricket's obsession with milestones is just ridiculous. At the end of the day, Harsha (Bhogle) asked him (Shreyas) about being close to the century. He replied that he does not regret it, but it was not his day. If you don't have a fascination with hundreds, is this 92 less than any 150; it is not."

The cricketer-turned-commentator picked Iyer as his player of the day. Chopra reasoned:

"My player of the day has to be Shreyas Iyer and from a lot of perspectives. You need to have a positive mindset to score runs on this pitch; you need to have in your mind that you will attack."

Aakash Chopra emphasised the importance of a positive frame of mind for the decisive footwork exhibited by Iyer, explaining:

"You will have decisive feet movement only if you are positive; you will be able to go forward and back to the right delivery. When you play spin, the first thing you need to read is the length, whether the ball has to be played off the front foot or the back foot, and you can do that properly when there is positivity in your mind."

The 44-year-old added that a batter also needs to stay in the present on such a pitch. Chopra observed:

"Second, what happened on the previous delivery, you need to completely forget that, whether you got beaten or got struck on the gloves. You can be successful on this pitch only if you forget that, else it keeps playing on your mind."

Shreyas Iyer was beaten on a few occasions during his enterprising knock. However, he stuck to his game plan of playing every ball on its merit.

---

"Shreyas Iyer didn't play the sweep" - Aakash Chopra

Shreyas Iyer was precise in his feet movement [P/C: BCCI]

Aakash Chopra pointed out that Shreyas Iyer scored his runs all around the park. He said:

"He didn't play the sweep. When the ball is turning, we say that you have to score runs square off the wicket, either point or square leg. The guy scored runs there but also hit sixes straight down the ground."

The former India opener added that Iyer continued with his good run against the visiting Lankan side, elaborating:

"If you are able to bat on such a dustbowl without the sweep, it means you have a great ability to play spin. He likes the Sri Lanka team a lot, didn't get out in the entire T20 series. He got out by mistake in the last match in Mohali, but here, he enjoyed it a lot."

Chopra concluded by saying that the quality of Shreyas Iyer's batting was head and shoulders above the rest of the players.