Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has been baffled at Shreyas Iyer’s revelation that he would not played the first ODI against England if Virat Kohli has been fit.
The India batting maestro has been ruled out for the opener match of the England tour of India 2025 due to a knee problem. It meant, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer filling the top order slot.
Yashasvi Jaiswal made his ODI debut, which forced Shubman Gill to bat at No.3. However, in a post-game interaction with the broadcasters, Iyer revealed he played only because Kohli was injured.
“As you all know I wasn’t supposed to play today. Virat unfortunately got injured and then I got the opportunity. I kept myself prepared. I knew that at any point of time I can get a chance to play,” he said.
Chopra took his X handle to question India’s decision on Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion if Kohli had been fit and where Virat Kohli himself would have batted.
“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,” said Aakash Chopra.
The suprise around Iyer possible being excluded if Kohli was fit arose from incredible ODI numbers. He has sent a stellar average of 47.69 at a strike rate of 102.14 with five centuries and 19 half centuries in 63 outings.
Shreyas Iyer played a pivotal role in India’s win in the first ODI against England, scoring a brilliant 59 runs off 36 deliveries.
Meanwhile Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel to make sense of Shreyas Iyer’s possible omission from the playing 11 had Kohli been fit for the first ODI considering his excellent ODI numbers.
However, Jaiswal, Gill and Iyer will be racing for the two spots in the opening ODIs against England. Gill and Iyer had an their impressive display in first ODI but Jaiswal endured a disappointing ODI debut.
“Interestingly, in the last 10 ODIs for India, Iyer’s average is 60, and so does Shubman Gill. That is the reason why we all thought that Iyer would be 100% certainty.”
“That is why you should just see Gautam Gambir and Rohit Sharma thinking what kind of combination India should go with in the next game because it looks like India want to go with Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma as openers and not Iyer in the middle order.”
“So that would be very happy headache to have,” said Parthiv Patel. It will be interesting to see which direction India will slot their batting line up for the second ODI.
The second ODI match of the series will begin on February 09 at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack.
