‘Fell short with the ball’: Iyer reflects on India's defeat, praises Phillips

Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer admitted India fell short with the ball in the fourth T20I against New Zealand, while praising Glenn Phillips for his match-winning century in Auckland on Friday.India suffered an 87-run defeat after New Zealand piled up 259/7, powered by Phillips' 107 off 49 balls and Michael Bracewell's 65 off 25.

The hosts then bowled India out for 172/9 to register their first win of the five-match series, making it 3-1.

Reflecting on India's bowling performance, Iyer said: "I think we fell a bit short in our bowling to start with. Powerplay, especially in the third over, they got that momentum from there on."The India captain, however, was full of praise for Phillips, who struck six fours and 10 sixes in a stunning knock."Exceptional knock by Glenn. Some phenomenal shots, which were like pure bliss.

So kudos to him. He's been consistent throughout the series, so lot to learn from him," Iyer said.India will look to regroup ahead of the final T20I in Hamilton. Iyer said the team would review its performance and work on executing its plans better."I feel that it's important to retrospect, see where we can actually bounce back, coming into Hamilton. So I personally feel that we can probably go back to the drawing board and see to it we analyse and try to execute to the best of our abilities in the next game," he said.

Iyer also acknowledged that adapting to the ground dimensions had been a challenge for some players, particularly those experiencing such conditions for the first time."Some of them, it's their first time playing on such grounds. So it takes a bit of time for them to adapt to the challenge. It's not that easy, I understand that," he said.

However, he backed the team to learn from the experience, pointing to their performances in the first three matches."The way they executed the first three games, it was magnificent, and yeah, this is just a learning curve. I feel that next time when they come here, they would probably have a better idea on how to go about their business. So a great learning curve, and hopefully we come back positive in the next game," Iyer added.