Before three games on this tour, Iyer had played only six ODIs - three each in two separate series - and averaged 42 following consecutive half-centuries against Sri Lanka in December 2017. But scores of 18 and 30 in South Africa two months later meant he was sent back to domestic cricket.

While they may have been decisions in haste, Iyer has left no scope for the same following successive impactful knocks on foreign soil. After the washout in the first ODI, Pant took the bothering number four spot in the second with Iyer sent below at five. With just about all the momentum, Pant threw away a decent start and fell to a soft dismissal.

That is when Iyer arrived and sent only his sixth delivery to the fence - a neat placement of the ball between gully and point, perfectly bisecting the gap between the fielders. That early confidence was on display when Kemar Roach was lifted beautifully over the keeper's head for four. As the innings progressed, Iyer grew in confidence - evident with his patience, deftness and timing of his drives and flicks all around - to reach a third half-century. When power was the need of the hour at the death, Iyer deposited Roach far beyond the long on fence. Eventually, he fell for a well-compiled and a well-paced 71 off 68 balls as India made 279 to win by 59 runs.

Three days later, under the pressure of a run chase and three quick wickets down - including that of Pant for a golden duck following a reckless shot - Iyer came to the crease with the required rate well over seven. He took his time to settle - five singles were collected off his first eleven deliveries with nudges, punches and a cut - but once he got going, Iyer was not to be stopped. He sensed Kohli needed to stay till the end and thus deal in singles and twos, so Iyer took upon himself to be the aggressor.

Left-armer Fabian Allen was smashed with a heroic dominance - one ball was sent sailing over the media centre at the ground while the next one - shorter in length - found itself equally far but this time over the mid-wicket boundary. Two more sixes and a four with the same disdain and control kept India motoring along, with Iyer's dominance bringing up another fifty. Before he was out for a 41-ball 65, he ensured one final treatment with brutal power to launch another six against spin.