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Shreyas Iyer has been India’s go-to No. 4 in ODI cricket. He had an excellent run in the 2023 World Cup where he racked up 530 runs in 11 games. He averaged 66.25 and boasted a strike-rate of 113.24.
The Mumbai-born batter didn’t have a great run in Sri Lanka last year when most of the other batters failed as well in spin-friendly conditions. He mustered 38 runs in three innings on that tour. However, Iyer went back to domestic cricket and turned up for Mumbai regularly and put up some consistent performances across formats.
After a stunning World Cup and consistent returns in the 50-over format, one would assume that Iyer would be a lock at No. 4 in the Indian ODI setup. However, the 30-year-old made a stunning revelation that he wasn’t supposed to play the first ODI of the series against England in Nagpur. He batted beautifully under pressure and struck a stunning 59 off 36 balls after walking into bat at 19/2 when India were chasing 249.
Virat Kohli was ruled out of the game due to a sore knee and Yashasvi Jaiswal was handed an ODI debut. It seemed like the left-handed top-order batter only played because Kohli was unavailable.
However, Iyer revealed that he was one who was supposed to miss out if Kohli was fit. Iyer has had his share of injury issues as well and when he was injured during the Asia Cup, KL Rahul walked into the playing XI and smashed a ton against Pakistan.
“I wasn’t supposed to play the first game. As we all know, Virat unfortunately got injured and then I got the opportunity. But I had kept myself prepared. I knew that, you know, at any point in time, I could get a chance to play. And the same thing happened to me last year during the Asia Cup. I got injured, and someone else came, and he scored a century,” Shreyas Iyer was quoted saying to the host broadcasters after the game.
Iyer cut short his movie night
Iyer further explained that he was actually watching a movie when Rohit Sharma rang him to inform he could actually end up in the XI.
“It’s actually a funny story. I was watching the movie last night. I thought that I could extend my nighttime. Then I got a call from the skipper saying that I may play because Virat has got a swollen knee, and I hurried back to my room and went off to sleep straight,” Iyer added.
With Kohli absent, India opened with Rohit and Jaiswal with Gill coming in at No. 3. It would be interesting to see what India do for the second ODI if Kohli is fit. Jaiswal may now find himself on the bench with India returning to their old ODI opening combination of Rohit and Gill.
Cuttack will host the second ODI which is scheduled to be played on the 12th of February. India are 1-0 up in the three-match series.
