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Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has lauded Shreyas Iyer for his impactful knock in the first ODI fixture against England on Thursday (February 6). Notably, Iyer revealed that he wasn’t slated to be playing the game, and Virat Kohli’s knee issues forced captain Rohit Sharma to include his Mumbai teammate in the XI.
The game saw Iyer slamming 59 off 36, with nine fours and two sixes, which helped India crawl back into the game after losing the wickets of openers. The aggressive mindset put England back under pressure, as Shubman Gill (87) and Axar Patel (52) were the other major contributors to India sealing the 249-run chase under 39 overs.
After Shreyas Iyer disclosed the story behind his inclusion, the cricket fraternity and fans slammed the Indian team management for their decision. The majority of them pointed out that Iyer scored over 500 runs in the 2023 World Cup, which paved the way for the Men in Blue to reach the final.
Harbhajan has jumped on the matter and feels Shreyas Iyer should be given consistent opportunites, after he proved his merit in the World Cup. As per ‘Turbantor’, Iyer’s knock tilted the game’s result in India’s favor. He said (via Hindustan Times):
“Shreyas is a proven performer. He scored a lot of runs in the World Cup. When a player scores so many runs, he thinks he would get opportunities. He is the best in his eye and hence, even God felt the same. He got what no one else thought and what someone else thought for Shreyas, that didn’t happen. The player whom you were thinking about dropping, he played such an innings, he made it an one-sided game. The 50 runs he scored, changed the complexion of the game.”
Harbhajan Singh feels India favored Yashasvi Jaiswal over Shreyas Iyer
Harbhajan Singh thinks the Indian team management has more trust in Yashasvi Jaiswal than in Shreyas Iyer. His comments come on the basis of Jaiswal making his ODI debut and being preferred over Iyer at least one day before the first fixture against England.
After Jaiswal could only score 15 off 22, he is expected to get dropped in the next game, with Virat Kohli’s inclusion in the XI. Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma are likely to serve as openers, with Kohli and Iyer at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.
Here’s what Harbhajan said (via Hindustan Times):
“The team management has selected him [Iyer] in the squad but they had to decide whether they want to go with him or Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top. I think the team is currently trusting Yashasvi more. Maybe the management is looking to have a right-left combination up top. This is how the team went. But I think if the management wanted not to play Shreyas, then the only reason was to have Yashasvi Jaiswal up top,” Harbhajan Singh told Hindustan Times on the sidelines of ILT20 in Sharjah.
