Ahmedabad, Feb 13: India head coach Gautam Gambhir has rubbished speculation that Shreyas Iyer was being side-lined from the ODI set-up despite his brilliant form, saying that the consistent right-hander was always in the “scheme of things” and will be an important player in this month’s Champions Trophy.
Iyer displayed excellent form during the just-concluded 3-0 ODI series sweep against England, hitting a counter-attacking 36-ball 59 in the opener when India were 19/2 chasing 249 in Nagpur, and scoring 44 and 78 in the next two games.
After the opening match, he created quite a stir by stating that he got into the side only after Virat Kohli had to sit out of the game because of a sore knee. This led to speculation that he would be dropped for Kohli in the next two games.
“He wasn’t supposed to be benched throughout the series. We wanted to give Yashasvi (Jaiswal) a go in the first game and see what he can bring on the table because he was in (a) really good form in Australia,” Gambhir said after the third and final match here on Wednesday.
Iyer was preferred over Jaiswal eventually and Gambhir described him as an “important player” in the side.
“I know that you can’t judge someone (Jaiswal) by one innings. But we always knew that Shreyas was going to be an important player for us. Sometimes when you’ve only got three games, you want to try and rotate your squad as well,” the coach reasoned.
“(And) 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. But Shreyas was always in the scheme of things (and it is) good that he played all the three games,” Gambhir added.
The Champions Trophy gets underway on February 19 with India talking Bangladesh on February 20 in Dubai.
Harshit and Arshdeep will have to step up
Someone’s missed opportunity is another person’s golden chance, believes Gambhir, who expects the likes of Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh to step up and fill the void created by pace talisman Jasprit Bumrah’s injury-forced absence from the Champions Trophy.
Bumrah, who played a decisive role in India’s T20 World Cup win last year with 15 wickets including a vital spell in the final, has been ruled out of the eight-team event which begins on February 19 owing to a nagging back problem. (PTI)