3 Reasons Why Shreyas Iyer Deserved A Place In India Squad For T20 World Cup 2022

The BCCI selection committee announced India’s T20 World Cup squad on Monday, September 12. Rohit Sharma is leading the 15-member squad with Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar, Ravi Bishnoi and Iyer himself named in the reserves. The squad is almost similar to what played in the Asia Cup.

Among the big names, Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel have made a comeback to the squad. Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out with a knee injury. The absence of Shami and Iyer have been a constant talking point since India’s T20 World Cup squad has been announced.

Iyer was a part of the reserves in the Asia Cup. He is a part of the reserves in the T20 World Cup as well. He was not a part of the T20 World Cup squad last year. Many people believe that Iyer should have been in the main squad instead of Deepak Hooda as a specialist batter. Among the ones who supported Iyer’s selection was former Indian skipper Mohd Azharuddin.

Shreyas Iyer constantly played at number three when Virat Kohli was on a break from international cricket. He scored runs against Sri Lanka and West Indies in the build-up to the Asia Cup. With Kohli’s return, Iyer has not been included in the T20I series against Australia and South Africa as well. Meanwhile, in this article, we take a look at 3 reasons why Shreyas Iyer deserved a place in India’s T20 World Cup 2022 Squad.

3 Reasons Why Shreyas Iyer Deserved A Place In India Squad For T20 World Cup 2022

1) Second-Highest T20I Run-Scorer For India In 2022

Iyer has scored 49 runs in 14 T20Is for India this year. He scored four fifties in the process and three on the trot against Sri Lanka earlier this year. Besides that, he has opened the batting in the ODI series against West Indies. He is among the in-form Indian batters in T20Is. With the Indian top-order still trying to find form. Iyer would have been a good option in the middle order.

Also Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Cricket West Indies Chief Selector Reveals Reason Behind Dropping Andre Russell From Squad

2) Good Backup Option For Virat Kohli

Kohli scored 275 runs from five games in the Asia Cup. He scored the fifties against Pakistan and Hong Kong before scoring his maiden T20I ton that came against Afghanistan. Despite scoring runs, there are still concerns over whether he will replicate that form in the T20 World Cup. In case, Kohli did not get going in the mega event, Iyer would have been an ideal replacement for him at number three.

3) Flexible As A Batter

Iyer is flexible as a batter and could have played for Rishabh Pant in the squad in case he does not score runs. The Indian keeper-batsman did not score too many runs in the Asia Cup. The Indian fans also expressed their anger over Pant’s selection over Iyer despite being not in form. Basically, Iyer could have been a backup for any of the top five batters in the tournament.

Also Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Afghanistan Announce 15-member Squad For The Marquee Tournament