Former India cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra revealed that batter Shreyas Iyer was available for the last three Tests against England but was not picked in the squad due to his poor form.
Iyer was not named in India's squad for the remainder of the Test series against England which was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday. Iyer played the first two matches of the series and scored 35, 13, 27 and 29 in the four innings respectively.
However, the BCCI release did not mention the reason behind Iyer's exclusion from the squad but reports claim that he is battling with a back issue while playing forward-leaning shots. He underwent back surgery in London last year before making a return to international cricket in Asia Cup 2023.
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Contrary to reports, citing sources Chopra claimed that his struggling run with the bat is the reason behind his omission from the remainder of the series.
“If we are to believe sources, he was available for selection but was left out. And there are reasons for this. He has not scored in the previous 12-13 innings and the way he was batting was not good," Chopra told on JioCinema.
Former batter further said that Iyer needs to improve his technique against short balls to come out of a rough red-ball patch.
"It’s ok to get out on bouncers, but the way he was trying to tackle them showed that he was not convincing. Both Shubman Gill and Shreyas had been under pressure until recently, but Gill never looked ugly or too worried even though he wasn’t getting the runs. But Iyer looked troubled. He needs to work on his technique against the short ball,” Chopra added.
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Apart from Iyer, star batter Virat Kohli will not feature for India as he remains unavailable for the full England Test series due to personal reasons.
“He has requested not to be considered for the whole series, no one has told us the reasons for which he sought this leave, and we must respect his privacy,” Chopra said.
Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja have returned to India's squad after missing the second Test in Visakhapatnam. The duo's participation in the series is subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI medical team.
India levelled the five-match series 1-1 after winning the last encounter by 106 runs. The third Test will be played in Rajkot from February 15.
India's squad for last three Tests against England: Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.