The men’s senior selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar is likely to announce the squad for remaining three Tests vs England today and it’s understood that Shreyas Iyer’s poor form with the bat, and not fitness concern, has put him in the firing line. The right-hander has scores of 27, 29, 35 and 13 in this series and his extended lean patch in the longest format has become concerning now.
“Injury issues? What are we saying. Did you not see his run-out of Ben Stokes? Fact is runs are just not coming and more is expected from the young middle-order batter. That is the biggest concern and the issue at the moment. He faced over 50 deliveries in three of his four innings and the concern is that runs just haven’t come,” a BCCI official tells CricketNext.
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Iyer is yet to cross the 50-run-mark in his last 13 innings and had disappointing outings in the recent two Tests vs South Africa too. The 29-year-old was walking a tight rope and is now likely to miss the remainder of the series now.
As CricketNext had reported on February 7, the squad for the remaining three Tests was likely in the next 48 hours but there has been a delay due to clearances for Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul for remainder of the series.
Both Jadeja and Rahul missed the 2nd Test due to injuries and the think-tank wanted to wait till the last minute for clearances from the medical team for their two star players and that is what caused the delay.
“We are waiting for clearances and updates on Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul and that is what led to the delay in selectors announcing the squad. We are talking about two big players so it’s important to get a clear picture on both of them before going ahead with the team selection for the series,” adds the official.
Clearances for the two is the only reason causing the delay and it’s understood that Virat Kohli has already informed the men who matter about his non-availability at least for the next two Tests in Rajkot and Ranchi respectively.
As far as Jasprit Bumrah is concerned, there are deliberations regarding his workload management for the long series, the IPL to follow and then the T20 World Cup later this year. The signs, however, are encouraging and it’s very likely that India’s pace spearhead, the new No.1 in ICC Test rankings, will feature in the Rajkot Test starting on February 15.
CricketNext had reported that the team will start training in Rajkot from February 13 but it is understood that the team will have their first session on February 12 but it will be behind closed doors and not accessible for general or media viewing.
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