BCCI announced the India Test squad today.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the India squad today, which will tour England next month for a five-match Test series. Star India batter Shreyas Iyer has not been included in the national red-ball side.
Here’s a look at three potential reasons why the 30-year-old failed to make it to the India Test squad. The series will kick off on June 20 in Headingley.
Since his Test debut against New Zealand in 2021, the batter has played only three matches outside the Indian subcontinent (South Africa and England). He scored 34 runs in his only match in England in 2022.
After the recent Test retirements of India skipper Rohit Sharma and former captain Virat Kohli, the BCCI wanted to pick a few experienced batters alongside some new faces. For this reason, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy made it to the squad after an excellent show in Australia during the latest Border-Gavaskar (BGT) series. Youngster Sai Sudharsan also earned his maiden India call-up.
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Moreover, India is currently pretty rich in their bench strength. There were plenty of other options for BCCI in the form of Reddy, Sudharsan, and Karun Nair. However, the BCCI chief selector said that the future performances of Shreyas in domestic cricket would hold the key to his return to the Test side.
“Shreyas Iyer had a good ODI series (Champions Trophy). He played well in domestic cricket, too, but there’s no spot now in the Test side. If he does continues to do well in domestic cricket, I’m sure there’ll be a place for him in the future,” he mentioned in the squad announcement press conference.
While the former two players are relatively new additions, Nair has been a veteran in India’s red-ball circuit. He was dropped after an impressive performance in his initial six matches. The batter possesses a rich experience of playing county cricket in England.
The short-ball concern may have also played a role in his omission from India’s red-ball squad against England. The BCCI selectors were not convinced about whether he would be able to tackle that issue well on the bouncy tracks in England.
Furthermore, his game against the lateral movement of the ball is still untested.
These might be the probable reasons behind the batter’s exclusion from India’s Test squad against England.
Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk and vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
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