Cricket World Cup - 'Played For The Team': England Great Hails Under-Fire Shreyas Iyer After Big Win vs Sri Lanka

Former England captain Nasser Hussain was all praise for Shreyas Iyer after the Indian batter silenced his critics with the bat during the Cricket World Cup match against Sri Lanka on Thursday. Amid talks of his possible exclusion from the playing XI for the game, Iyer played a quickfire knock of 82 to take India to a big total of 357/8. He was the third Indian batter to miss his century on the night, with Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill also falling short early on.

However, Hussain lauded Iyer for putting the team's interest on priority, when he could've easily scored a run-a-ball 40 or 50 to cement his place in the team.

"What I liked about the innings was that, sometimes, people start talking that you might be the one who gets left out. And let's be honest, some people have been saying that since he got out against England. (And then) you play for yourself, you get a score, 40 off 40 balls. He didn't. He was a finisher, he smashed it everywhere, he played for the team. He gets into better positions when he is attacking. I think he has got a very attacking mindset," Hussain said after India's innings on Star Sports.

During the same discussion, legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar also praised Iyer, insisted that his place was on the line, but the batter didn't back down while facing the short ball.

"(There was a) big question mark because he had opportunities that he threw away with aerial shots. That is the reason why it was important for him to score runs. Because once Hardik Pandya comes back, the question would've been between him and Suryakumar Yadav. KL Rahul would've moved up to 4, Suryakumar up to 5, and Hardik at 6. But more important than retaining his place, it was to show that he could handle the short ball.