Former Indian Cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Harbhajan Singh raised their concerns regarding the fitness of the Indian middle batter Shreyas Iyer, who missed out on the Super Four game against Pakistan at the last minute due to a back spasm, as informed by the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma at the toss of the high octane clash in Colombo.
In Iyer’s place, KL Rahul, who is also making his way back from a hamstring injury, was named to the starting lineup. The right-handed batter had missed the Indian Premier League owing to a back injury and had been out of the game since March of this year and has worked really hard to get into the India squad for the ODI World Cup.
Speaking to India Today on India’s playing 11 for the clash against Pakistan, Sunil Gavaskar believes that Shreyas Iyer is a worrying sign for the Indian team management having the mega event in a month. He thinks that the Indian team has the luxury of making changes to the squad before September 28 and praised Iyer for his excellent batting against Pakistan during the group stage of the competition.
“It’s a worry definitely. If a player is out for 5-6 months due to an injury and then has it again a month before the World Cup, yes it is an area of concern. Luckily, you can make changes in your World Cup team, and in case he is unfit and doesn’t recover then there will be somebody who will replace him. It is sad because he looked good in that match against Pakistan. He played a lovely cover drive,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
Shreyas Iyer has the tremendous skillset to play in all three formats of the game, but his biggest strength lies in the 50-over format of the game, as he has taken the spot of the crucial number 4 spot in the Indian team in the last couple of years but could be a crucial miss for the team if he fails to recover from the injury.
I Think Getting Injured At This Point In Time Is Going To Hurt Shreyas Iyer’s Position In The Team – Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh feels that Shreya Iyer’s injuries will undoubtedly hurt his position in the playing 11, especially with KL Rahul returning to the team after a long absence. He expressed his concern about Indian players getting injured frequently leading up to the country’s marquee event and felt that KL Rahul brought stability to the middle order.
“Injuries are part and parcel of the game. But getting injured that often is either bad luck or you are making a position for KL Rahul. I think getting injured at this point in time is going to hurt his position in the team as well and make things correct for KL Rahul”.
“It is very worrying that players are getting injured again and again and it is mostly to do with the kind of training they do. So that is the question NCA needs to answer because that is where players go and rehabilitate and train themselves. And what KL Rahul brings to this table is stability in the batting line-up,” Harbhajan Singh said.
KL Rahul’s batting has helped the Indian team to play four frontline batters at the top of the order since he serves as the finisher in the lower order alongside Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja and is likely to occupy the pivotal No. 5 position in the middle order.