“The attitude and approach the Japanese team showed today was impeccable and kudos to them,” Iyer said after India won a nail-biting T20I by two runs. “Their approach was outstanding. So I’m sure that they are on the right track right now and they’ve got a couple more matches against Afghanistan and Nepal [at the Asian Games]; they would be brilliant.”

On a tricky surface, which turned square nearly from the first ball, Japan restricted India to 32 for 4 after a wet outfield reduced the only T20I to a five-overs-a-side contest. Japan gave the target a shot but managed only 30 for 3 with all ten overs bowled by spinners.

“Well, it was turning square, and honestly speaking, it was a very difficult wicket to bat on,” Iyer said. “We saw the openers as well, who are used to scoring runs consistently, not able to gauge the pace of the spin.”

Iyer was the only batter from the Indian side to record a double-digit score – 16 off 12 – with the top order collapsing against spin. Abhishek Sharma fell for a first-ball duck, Sanju Samson scored 9, Ishan Kishan 3 and Tilak Varma 1*. India managed just two fours in five overs and no sixes, with Japan also only hitting two fours. Eventually, Iyer’s 16 proved critical to the outcome of the game.

“I decided when I got in that it’s important that I need to take singles and doubles and rotate the strike as much as possible,” Iyer, who was also named player of the match, said. “I also interacted with the batsman who came in with me, but it was difficult to do that as well.

“But honestly speaking, I just decided that I would be playing on the merit of the ball and plan accordingly. If the ball is turning and rolling a bit, I’ll just use the pace of the ball and hold myself at the back and see to it that I match for singles and doubles. So that worked out pretty well.

“You see, I always keep saying that five-over game, it can go anywhere. It doesn’t matter how good a team you are, because the opposition is also competitive.”

Iyer hasn’t had the best run in his short captaincy career, losing the T20I series on the road against Ireland and England, before registering wins against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. He will next lead the side at the Asian Games, with India’s matches scheduled to begin on September 28 in Nisshin. While Iyer said that India is obviously looking to bring home another gold medal, he wants to take it “one step at a time.”

“It’s a pleasure to be leading the Indian team,” he said. “With the performances you’ve seen in the past, winning so many trophies, it’s a great responsibility. But with responsibility comes pressure and I feel that I thrive under pressure. So it’s a great role for me and I always feel that the captaincy is something that gets the best out of me. So always loving to explore this.

“It was a long travel for us to Sano; it took us three hours to reach here but at the back of our minds, we had only one thing that we want to play the game, excite the crowd who has come to see the game and the supporters who’ve been thriving [sic] to see to it that this match was organised.

“Even though it was five overs, I personally feel that at least we got a game to see and to honestly experience such a great performance from the Japanese team and also Indian players as well. So yeah, overall, I feel it was an exciting game and yeah, honestly, they were also brilliant with their performances.”