India wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik has lavished praise on Shreyas Iyer for the way the right-handed batter has been performing consistently in the ODIs in the recent past.

“I think the way he has played for a period of time has been phenomenal. He has scored 700-plus runs just this year and you can see the confidence. One Day International cricket is something right up his alley, he likes the fact that he can take a few balls and then start launching. Terrific player of spin and the fact that these days every time he walks in, they test him with short balls and he is coming good, almost every game,” Karthik said while speaking the Cricbuzz.

While Karthik lauded Iyer for his consistency, he further added that the batter needs to finish the games for India, just like Virat Kohli has been doing over the years.

“Yes, he had the odd failure which could be due to a short ball but every time he crosses that you can see he is a man on a mission and he wants to be there for the team at the end. He looked good in this knock, he dominated right through the time he was batting. Yes, wickets fell around him but he didn’t give up and I really like that about him. He almost took India to a place where – I think it was safe but if you want to make your name as a player, you want to make a name like what Virat Kohli has done over the years, these are the games that you wanna be 120-130 not out, that is a big difference,” Karthik added.

India lost the second ODI against Bangladesh as the hosts took an unassailable lead in the three-match series but Iyer continued his purple patch and scored 82 off 102 deliveries. Chasing 272, the visitors were reduced to 65/4 before Iyer and Axar Patel tried to steady the ship with a partnership of 107 runs. Iyer was eventually undone by Mehidy Hasan.

Later, Rohit Sharma who came into bat at number nine after injuring his thumb while fielding chipped in with an aggressive 28-ball 51* which included five sixes but failed to take the team over the line.

The two sides will now play the third and final ODI on Saturday in Chattogram. Sharma will miss the fixture due to injury.

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