IPL 2018: I Wasn't Under Pressure During Captaincy Debut, Says Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer stole the limelight on Friday after his team Delhi Daredevils (DD) thumped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 55 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at Feroz Shah Kotla. The newly-appointed DD captain smashed 93 off 40 balls -- the highest score by any player on captaincy debut in the history of IPL, en route his team's victory over KKR. Speaking to DD teammate Colin Munro after the match, Iyer said he was happy after the guiding DD to a win adding he wasn't under pressure at all. "I wasn't under pressure at all. Leading to the IPL, I led few teams back home. The feeling was amazing, winning the first game for DD. Winning the game in between the tournament. Its never happened", he said.

Iyer also praised Munro and Prithvi Shaw's knock that gave DD a solid start. He added that the start given by them helped him build his innings. 

"You guys (Munro and Prithvi) gave us a great start. I backed myself and whenever I see, I can take spinners on and I took them on", he said.

Iyer also shed light on his 'upper cut' shot off Mitchell Johnson's delivery that caught everyone's attention. "I think its an instinctive shot. I had an intuition he will bowl those balls again. I was just ready for that shot and luckily it hit the bat", he concluded.

Iyer replaced Gautam Gambhir as captain of Delhi after the veteran left-hander had relinquished his post following a poor start to the campaign. Gambhir was left out of Delhi's playing XI for the home match against KKR with young Prithvi Shaw and Colin Munro opening the batting.

One of Delhi's main problems have been their poor starts at the top of the order and that quickly changed as Munro and Shaw got their team to an absolute flier. The duo added 59 runs for the first wicket before Munro fell to Shivam Mavi.

Shaw was joined by Iyer and the duo strung together a 68-run stand for the second wicket, giving their team a brilliant foundation for an all-out attack at the end of the innings.

Rishabh Pant was dismissed for a golden duck and in walked an out-of-form Glenn Maxwell. The Australian found the going hard initially, hardly timing any of his shots. However, he found his range as the innings progressed but had to take a back seat as the Iyer show began.

Narine was taken for 18 in the 17th over of the innings, however, it was Mavi's final over that produced one of the most destructive hitting seen in IPL history. Iyer smashed Mavi for a whopping 29 runs -- the most expensive over of IPL 2018 -- to power DD to a match-winning score.

KKR made a feeble attempt to overhaul the target but were always chasing shadows after losing their top four batsmen within the powerplay overs. Shubman Gill (37 off 29 balls) played a handy knock and along with Andre Russell (44 off 30 balls) managed to keep the Kolkata outfit in the tie.

But a brilliant showing by DD bowlers at the death kept Russell under wraps and helped the Delhi franchise register a 55-run win -- their second in seven matches this season.