Ex-India Openers Criticise Gautam Gambhir And Rohit Sharma’s Pre-plan To Axe Shreyas Iyer vs England

After a few overs of the powerplay with the new ball, India was superb for the entire first ODI of the three-match series against England in Nagpur. They made a fantastic comeback with the ball to reduce the visiting side to 248 before their allotted 50 overs.

The home side was also under a little pressure, losing two early wickets in the chase. But Shreyas Iyer’s aggressive batting, with some glorious shots against England’s pacers, pulled the momentum back before Shubman Gill put on a calm knock of 87 runs to carry them over the line with four wickets in hand.

Shreyas Iyer displays aggressive batting

However, the middle-order batter informed that he wasn’t supposed to be playing the game. It was a late-night call from captain Rohit Sharma to include the Mumbai-born in the playing eleven after Virat Kohli was ruled out of the Nagpur contest due to injury.

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Iyer used his feet to tickle the leg-sided delivery from Saqib Mahmood to the fine leg region for a boundary. Jofra Archer went for a length ball outside the off stump as the right-handed batter made room to go into the back foot and pulled the ball over deep mid-wicket for a six. On the very next delivery, he got a top edge over the boundary cushion for the same result.

Jos Buttler soon introduced Brydon Carse into the attack as Shreyas plated the back leg down and drove it through the cover region for a boundary to celebrate his half-century in just 30 balls. The veteran finished with 59 runs in 36 balls, thanks to nine boundaries and a couple of sixes at a strike rate of 163.90.

Shreyas Iyer’s statement shocks Parthive Patel

However, Iyer’s statement of him being not part of the playing eleven for the encounter shocked India’s former opening batter, Parthiv Patel. Kevin Pietersen was also present with Patel in the commentary box.

The left-handed opening batter was left dumbfounded at the revelation, as the middle-order batter remains in their plans ahead of the Champions Trophy. The former wicket-keeper batter speculated that the management perhaps was looking at Yashasvi Jaiswal as the opener and planned to use Shubman Gill in the middle order.

“Interestingly, in the last 10 ODIs for India, Iyer's average is 60, and so does Shubman Gill. hat is the reason why we all thought that Iyer would be 100% certain.” Patel addressed on Star Sports.

“That is why you should just see Gautam Gambir and Rohit Sharma thinking about what kind of combination India should go within the next game because it looks like India wants to go with Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma as openers and not Iyer in the middle order. So that would be a very happy headache to have.” The Gujarat-born expressed.

Aakash Chopra questions India’s plan to bench Shreyas Iyer

Gill remained almost till the end for his 87 runs, decorated with 14 boundaries. His ODI average has now flown 58.2 and at a strike rate of more than 100.

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India’s former opener batter, Aakash Chopra, was quick to tweet a reminder of Iyer’s heroics in the 2023 World Cup. He was the second-leading run-getter for the Blue Brigade and the team’s best-ever number four in a World Cup edition.

“Trying to wrap my head around the revelation that Iyer wasn’t likely to play if Kohli was fit. He’s the first Indian to score 500+ runs batting at 4 in a World Cup. 2023. How could you bench him?? And if he wasn’t going to play, where was Kohli supposed to bat? At 4? Surely, Gill wasn’t getting pushed to 4.” He tweeted.