Iyer Looked Troubled; Needs To Work On Technique Against Short Ball: Aakash Chopra

Both Shubman Gill: Former India opener Aakash Chopra believes that Shreyas Iyer’s non-inclusion in the squad for the last three Tests against England was due to him looking troubled at the crease in the first two matches and added that he needs to put in the work to improve his batting technique against the short ball.

Iyer’s exclusion from the Indian Test team comes after making scores of 35 and 13 in Hyderabad, followed by scoring 27 and 29 in Visakhapatnam, where he struggled to get going. In his last seven Test matches, Iyer has amassed only 187 runs at an average of 17, with a top score of just 35.

Multiple reports had said Iyer complained of groin and lower back stiffness after the Visakhapatnam Test, which India won by 106 runs. But the BCCI did not provide any reasoning behind Iyer being left out of the Test team, which implies that he may have been left out due to his low scores in the first two games.

"If we are to believe sources, he was available for selection but was left out. And there are reasons for this. He has not scored in the previous 12-13 innings and the way he was batting was not good. It’s ok to get out on bouncers, but the way he was trying to tackle them showed that he was not convincing.”

"Both Shubman Gill and Shreyas had been under pressure until recently, but Gill never looked ugly or too worried even though he wasn’t getting the runs. But Iyer looked troubled. He needs to work on his technique against the short ball," said Chopra on ‘#AAKASHVANI’ show on JioCinema.

Apart from Iyer, talismanic batter Virat Kohli is not a part of squad for the last three Tests against England due to personal reasons. Kohli missed the first two Tests due to personal reasons and with him not being available for the next three matches, it’s the first time that Kohli is missing an entire Test series at home in his international career.

"He has requested not to be considered for the whole series, no one has told us the reasons for which he sought this leave, and we must respect his privacy," added Chopra.

England won the opening Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs, while India bounced back with a 106-run win at Visakhapatnam. The five-match Test series is finely poised at 1-1, with the third Test to be held in Rajkot, starting on February 15.

Both India and England will then travel to Ranchi for the fourth Test beginning on February 23, followed by the final game of the series to be held in Dharamshala on March 7.