IND vs SA | 'Our main aim is obviously the World Cup' - Shreyas Iyer

Indian top-order batsman Shreyas Iyer has said that the home side's main aim is the upcoming T20 World Cup, and they are using the bilateral matches to eke out whatever chunks that exist in their armour ahead of the marquee event in Australia later this year.

Iyer made this comment following Team India's second successive defeat to South Africa in the ongoing five-match T20I series.

One of the strategies Iyer talked about is the batting unit's no-holds-barred approach. India have showcased that approach to the hilt in this series, especially in the 1st T20I, where they hammered 211/4 in 20.

"Our main aim is obviously the World Cup, so we have to see to it that we plan towards it. So we have that sort of mindset where we are completely free and not thinking about anything else. These are the actual games where we can practise what we were lacking in the past. That's what we keep discussing in the team meeting as well," said Shreyas in the post-innings interview, as quoted by Cricinfo.

"No matter what happens, whatever plans we discuss in the team meeting, we have to execute those. Even if we fail, we will learn from that and grow as a player and grow as a team. So that's more important till we reach Australia." he added.

Iyer said that the team will continue to back their batters' all-out approach even if they lose wickets in the process.

"We have made this plan that we will keep going no matter what happens. Even if we keep losing wickets, it's our gameplan and in the future too, we will go in with the same mindset. We will back ourselves and back our instincts."

India struggled to get going in their innings in Cuttack despite their batters' best efforts to bat with the all-out attack approach.

They eventually managed 148/6 thanks to some late-hitting from Dinesh Karthik. However, Shreyas, who scored a 35-ball 40, felt that the batting unit could have paced the innings better during the middle-overs, adding that the home side was at least 12-15 runs short of a match-winning score.

"I feel if something we could have done on this wicket is playing until 11 to 15 overs. But at the same time you need to keep the scoreboard ticking also. If I look back, I think 160 could have been a really good score on the board to put them under a little bit of pressure but we were around 12 runs short."

India will now be desperate to win the next T20I in Vizag as a proud streak of not losing a bilateral rubber at home in the last three years hangs in the balance.