India head coach Gautam Gambhir finally lifted the veil over whether Shreyas Iyer was supposed to be benched throughout the three ODIs against England by affirming that the 30-year-old batter was always in the “scheme of things.” On Wednesday, India exuded dominance over England in Ahmedabad with an emphatic 142-run victory to sweep the series away with a 3-0 win. Despite India’s success, some fans still pondered Shreyas’s shocking statement after India’s victory in the first ODI in Nagpur.
Shreyas revealed that he got confirmation of being included in the playing XI after a late-night call from skipper Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli’s knee issue opened up a spot for Shreyas. If the Indian stalwart had remained fit, then Shreyas would have started the series on the bench.
The 30-year-old played a swift counterattacking 59-run knock to lay the foundation for India’s four-wicket win in the first ODI. He kept riding high on his momentum and ended the series with 181 runs at an average of 60.33.
Gambhir broke the silence surrounding the decision to bench Shreays. Considering Yashasvi Jaiswal’s form in Australia, the management decided to give the youngster his debut in the format and see what he could offer on the field.
“On Shreyas Iyer, he wasn’t supposed to be benched throughout the series. We wanted to give Yashasvi a go in the first game and see what he could bring to the table because he was in really good form in Australia. So we wanted to see what kind of innings he can play,” Gambhir said in the post-match press conference.
In the series’ final match, Shreyas proved himself the best candidate among India’s pool of talent for the number four spot in the ODIs. He balanced his aggression with composure to entertain the crowd with his belligerent 78 from 64 deliveries, laced with eight fours and two towering sixes.
“I know that one inning; you can’t judge someone by one inning. But we always knew that Shreyas was going to be an important player for us; what he’s done at number four because number four beat the World Cup, or forget about even the World Cup, he’s just an important player,” he added.
Gambhir laid out the squad’s rotation policy, which allows every player to get an opportunity before the Champions Trophy begins on February 19.
“So sometimes, when you’ve only got three games, you want to try and rotate your squad as well. See, for today, we could have easily played Shami, but we wanted to give Arshdeep a go. We could have played Jadeja as well; we gave Washington a go as well,” he said.
“So when you’ve got the Champions Trophy around the corner, you want to try and maximize these three games and try and give everyone an opportunity. But Shreyas was always in the scheme of things, and it’s good that he played all three games. It’s still early days; I think guys have shown some really good signs; Harshit has come along really well; Ash was really good today as well; he got his first opportunity,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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