It has been reported that Shreyas Iyer could be added to India’s main squad after poor run of form of Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.
All of these three players are part of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup squad but have failed to get going in the ongoing season of the IPL for defending champions Mumbai Indians.
SKY has managed to score 189 runs in 10 matches for MI in the ongoing season whereas Kishan has gathered only 107 runs in eight matches. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer is part of the stand-by players but he has been able to hit the ground running for Delhi Capitals after recuperating from shoulder injury.
Furthermore, Hardik Pandya failed to get going in the series against Sri Lanka and had to sit out of MI’s playing XI for the first couple of matches due to a niggle.
Iyer scored an unbeaten knock of 47 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad and then scored 43 runs against Rajasthan Royals, for which he was awarded the player of the match. Thus, it would make sense to add an in-form Shreyas Iyer to the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup.
“Yes, it is a bit of a concern but we still have a few matches left in the IPL to get them back in form. Hopefully, they will. Suryakumar has been amongst runs for India so he is not a big concern at the moment. Ishan Kishan too did well in Sri Lanka. Virat also spoke to him on Sunday and let’s see how it goes,” a BCCI source told InsideSport on Monday.
“We have Shreyas Iyer as the backup, if there are any concerns, he could be added. But it’s too early to say anything. Ishan Kishan is an important player and so are Suryakumar and others. There is no point speculating,” the BCCI source added.
On the other hand, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur are the other stand-by players for the Indian team in the T20 World Cup. Chahar recently scored a match-winning fifty against Sri Lanka whereas Thakur continued to impress on the England tour as he contributed with the bat in the Oval Test. However, the source added that Hardik Pandya is a complete all-rounder and he will be backed by the team management.
“Hardik is recovering and Mumbai Indians have managed him well. We will see how it goes. He is bowling at the nets, so that’s a good sign. Rohit is there, so he knows better how to handle him. You are talking about Hardik and there is no backup at the moment.
Shardul and Deepak are good options but they are yet to prove as regular all-round options in T20s. So, Hardik remains the best all-rounder,” the BCCI source concluded.
