Former spinner Harbhajan Singh has slammed his agitation with the management for contemplating dropping Shreyas Iyer from the playing 11 for the first ODI of England tour of India 2025.
Iyer has returned for the first time since the Sri Lanka tour last year, amassing 59 runs after the visitors dismissed the openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal cheaply.
He was then dismissed by Jacob Bethell but he set a solid platform along with Shubman Gill for the hosts who eventually chased 248 runs. However, he later revealed that he wouldn’t have played had Virat Kohli not picked up a knee injury.
Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh in a recent interview called the whole incident to ‘divine intervention’.
“The team management has selected him 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,” said Harbhajan Singh.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of ILT20, Harbhajan Singh said he was suprised that a proven performer like Shreyas Iyer was on the verge of being left out.
“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,” he said.
Shreyas Iyer played one of the pivotal role in India’s run to the final in the 2023 ODI World Cup, with the middle order batter scoring 530 runs to emerge the seventh highest run getter in global event.
It will be interesting to see how India will line up the playing 11 for the second ODI if Virat Kohli returns to the squad.
Leading the series 1-0, India will be looking for a win in the second ODI which is set to be played on February 09 at Barabati Stadium.
