"Shreyas Iyer was ugly.."- Former India Opener

Shreyas Iyer was not picked in the Indian squad for the remaining three Tests of the series after he complained of back stiffness but former India opener Aakash Chopra reckons that he was ignored because of his poor show with the bat in the last four Tests he played and especially because of his approach in the second Test. India won the second Test in Vizag by 106 runs but Shreyas Iyer again failed to contribute with the bat and his poor run with the bat in Test cricket continued.

Shreyas Iyer has not been performing well in red-ball cricket since his return to the format in South Africa in December 2023. Iyer has played 14 Test matches and has scored 811 runs at an average of 36.86 which includes a century and five half-centuries. However, his recent approach in Test cricket has drawn a lot of criticism and his poor run of form somehow forced the selectors to not pick him for the rest of the series.

Aakash Chopra opined in a video on his YouTube channel that Shreyas Iyer could have been back in the squad for the final two Tests but the selectors did not pick him because of his approach in Test cricket where he has struggled in this series scoring 104 runs at an average of 26.00 in four innings. In contrast, Aakash Chopra gave Shubman Gill‘s example who played an excellent knock in the second innings against England in the second Test.

“Reports say that he was available for selection because there are three matches. So even if he wasn’t available for one match, he could have been available for the remaining two matches. So he was available for selection. However, the selectors said that they weren’t going to pick him. Shubman Gill was also in the same boat but he never looked ugly. People said that about Shreyas in the Vizag Test match and what they said wasn’t wrong,” the former India opener added.

Shreyas Iyer Was Backing Away A Lot, Observes Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra observed that Shreyas Iyer was backing away while playing the English spinners and Jimmy Anderson. He stated, “In the Vizag match, he was backing away while playing every short ball. It just does not look nice. If you start playing like that, a question comes for sure why he is playing like that because that just did not look right.”

Shreyas Iyer has not scored a half-century in his last 13 innings in Test cricket and it has been a point of concern as his white-ball record has been phenomenal in the past few months. He had a terrific ODI World Cup but the dip in his form in Test cricket is something that can hamper his Test career in the future because of the large talent pool in India.

India and England will play the third Test of the five-match series at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot and both teams have a chance to take a lead in the series as the series is levelled at 1-1. India lost the first Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs and then went on to win the Vizag Test by 106 runs.