シュレイヤス・アイアー「彼らは常に物事の計画で銀行にいるはずではなかった」：ガンビルは「重要なプレーヤー」に挨拶する」

India cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir dubbed Shreyas Iyer as an “important player” for the side ahead of ICC Champions Trophy. His reaction came after reports claimed that the team management had planned to bench the middle-order batter in the IND vs ENG ODI series. The reports did rounds after Iyer had revealed that he was included in the playing XI for the 1st ODI in Nagpur in the last-minute only because of Virat Kohli’s injury.

Gambhir ends silence on wanting to bench Iyer

Speaking to reporters after IND vs ENG 3rd ODI, Gambhir revealed that Shreyas was never supposed to be benched throughout the series. He said that the team only wanted to give Yashasvi Jaiswal a game to see what he can do in ODIs, citing his form from Australia. Gambhir stated that Iyer was an important player for the team, hailing his role as number 4 batter for the team in ODIs and 2023 World Cup.

“He (Iyer) wasn’t supposed to be benched throughout the series. We wanted to give Yashasvi a go in the first game and see what he can bring to the table because he was in really good form in Australia. So we wanted to see what kind of an innings can he play. I know you can’t judge someone by one innings, but we always knew that Shreyas is going to be an important player for us. What he’s done at No. 4, be it the World Cup or forget about even the World Cup, he’s just an important player,” Gambhir said.

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Further, Gambhir stressed on the need to rotate the squad and gave an example of why Shami did not play in IND vs ENG 3rd ODI. He categorically stated that Shreyas Iyer was very well in the scheme of things and said that it was good he played all three matches.

“So when you’ve got Champions Trophy around the corner, you want to try and maximise these three games and try and give everyone an opportunity. Shreyas was always in the scheme of things, and good that he played all the three games,” he added.

Iyer returned to ODIs with a bang and aced his role at number 4. Against England, he registered scores of 59, 44 and 78 in three matches, proving why he was the best option for the Men in Blue at that position. He will play a crucial role in the middle-order for India in Champions Trophy.