The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) isn’t too keen on taking Shreyas Iyer to England. With the 5-match tour just a month away, the BCCI is expected to announce India’s Test squad soon. A few spots are up for grabs. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirements have opened up the opener and number four position. But barring Sai Sudharsan, there are candidates within the team who’ll likely assume these roles.
One spot that seems very open is number five. Shreyas Iyer, Karun Nair, Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, and Sarfaraz Khan are all among the conversations. Well, one of them might not be anymore. The BCCI isn’t sold on Shreyas, the Test batter.
Ranji Trophy & overseas selection
The batter from Mumbai had a great Ranji Trophy season statistically. But when one takes a deeper look, you see that Shreyas scored his 2 hundreds (142 and 233) against slightly weaker teams like Maharashtra and Odisha. If we remove these two scores, Shreyas scored just 105 runs in 5 innings.
Although he’s made great improvement when it comes to his prowess against the short ball, the BCCI isn’t sure about his game transferring to England. “If India were to play a home series, Shreyas’s chances of selection would have been fine. But on an overseas tour, against the quicks, his chances don’t really look great,” a BCCI official told The Telegraph.
No trust by selectors for England
The feeling seems to be that Shreyas won’t be able to make his attacking game style work in England, a place where most batters have to leave the ball more. And he hasn’t yet shown anyone whether he’ll be able to handle swing either.
“See, the general feeling is that he still needs to work a little bit on his red-ball game. Yes, he has been doing a brilliant job in limited overs, adapting excellently to situations. But Test cricket is a different ballgame. The short-ball aside, there will be a lot more swing and movement in England, which makes it imperative to leave the ball as well. Leaving the ball is very important when it comes to batting in England,” the source added.
“As far as Shreyas is concerned, he’s a naturally aggressive player and looks to score runs quickly. So, curbing his instincts may not be that easy, and that’s one aspect which could go against him before the squad gets finalised,” another BCCI official said.
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