IND vs WI: Venkatesh Iyer Should Not Have Been Dropped So Soon - Saba Karim

Former Indian national selector Saba Karim opined that Indian selectors shouldn’t have dropped all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for the white-ball series against West Indies.

Venkatesh made his ODI debut against South Africa last month, he scored 2 & 22 in the first two games. He wasn’t given any over in the first match but did roll his arm in the second game.

Venkatesh Iyer was benched in the third ODI against South Africa

Venkatesh didn’t find any wickets and was dropped from the Indian team in the Cape Town match and subsequently missed his selection in both T20I and ODI squads for the limited-overs series against the Windies at home.

I had liked Venkatesh Iyer’s approach in South Africa: Saba Karim

Karim said that Venkatesh deserved more opportunities as he was impressed with his approach against the Proteas. The former Indian wicketkeeper-batter also mentioned India’s playing XI for the first ODI.

“I think Venkatesh Iyer should not have been dropped so soon. I had liked his approach in South Africa. He also bowled decently, which should have given him more opportunities,” Karim said on the YouTube channel Khelneeti.

My playing XI would be: Rohit, Kishan, Kohli, Pant, Yadav, Hooda, Thakur, Chahar, Siraj, Kuldeep and Chahal. Don’t see Sundar featuring because there are not many left-handers in the team,” he added.

Venkatesh scored 379 runs from six innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22 and slammed centuries, while batting in the middle-order, against Chandigarh and Kerala.

He was the revelation of IPL as he scored 370 runs from 10 innings in the second phase of IPL 2021 at the strike rate of 128.41. He was retained by the franchise for IPL 2022 along with Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy.

India will play against West Indies in three ODI matches and as many T20 Internationals, the white-ball series starts with the first ODI on February 6 in Ahmedabad.

Also Read: IND vs WI: “Don’t Think He Will Be Too Successful As An All-Rounder”-Madan Lal On Venkatesh Iyer