a newly-fit For the second Test match against Australia beginning on February 17 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Shreyas Iyer is expected to “walk into” India’s starting XI. Iyer’s back issue prevented him from playing in the opening Border-Gavaskar Trophy match against Australia in Nagpur as well as the three-match ODI series against New Zealand. But after receiving treatment at Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy (NCA), the right-hander is ready to reclaim his spot in the middle of the order.
Suryakumar Yadav, who made his Test debut in Nagpur and was dismissed for eight runs, will now have to leave. Rahul Dravid, the head coach of India, claimed that everyone on the team is aware of the circumstances. Iyer put up a lot of time at the plate during India’s first official practice on Wednesday. Iyer will bat once more on Thursday, according to Dravid, and if team management determines he is prepared to carry the weight for five days, he will immediately into the starting XI.
“It’s always great to have somebody back from injury. We never like to lose people because of injury. It’s not for us as a team, and not nice for the individual. I’m glad that he is back and fit. We’ll take a call after a couple of days of training. He’s had a long session today, he has done some training. We will assess it tomorrow as well once he comes for a light hit and see how it goes. If he is fit and ready to go and take the load of five days of a Test match, then without a doubt with his past performances, he will walk straight into the XI,” Dravid said in the pre-match press conference.
In the past 18 months, Iyer has been among India’s best players in ODIs and Test matches. Since making his debut in November 2021 against New Zealand, he has displayed outstanding poise at this level. Since his debut, Iyer has scored the second-most runs for India in Test cricket. Rishabh Pant, who has 722 runs in 8 games, has 624 runs in 7 Tests at an average of 56.
Dravid said, more than Iyer’s abilities against spinners, it’s his temperament that has impressed him the most, making him a sure-shot contender in the middle order. “Yes, Shreyas has played well against spin but what really stood out is his temperament. We’ve been in quite a few pressure situations with Shreyas around, right from his debut game in Kanpur. In the last year and a half, he, Jadeja, and Rishabh have been the ones bailing us out from those tough situations by playing those critical knocks.
His temperament in Bangladesh when we were under the pump, is something that is a really good sign,” Dravid added. When asked about Suryakumar Yadav’s position, the former captain of India responded that the current administration of the team favors players who have won matches for India and will restore their role in the starting XI when they recover from an injury.
“Without it being on stone and without it being a rule… We value the contributions of people who have performed. If they have missed out due to injuries, they deserve the right to make a comeback irrespective of what has happened during the time that they have been injured,” he said.
