Follow UsJust when it felt like Shreyas Iyer had cemented his place at No.4 for the Indian side, there was a new twist in the tale. The Mumbaikar revealed how he wouldn’t have played the first ODI in Nagpur if Virat Kohli wasn’t ruled out with an injury, triggering a lot of response.
Post the 2019 ODI World Cup, only Mohammad Rizwan has scored more runs (1,484) than Iyer at that No.4 position. But what makes the Indian batter rare is his strike rate of 103.3, far higher than any No.4 in world cricket. Despite that, India frequently left out the right-handed batter in the past two years.
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was surprised to learn that Iyer was left out of the squad and added that the 2023 ODI World Cup performance should have ideally sealed him that spot.
"I've been a little bit surprised that he's been out of India's side in the last couple of years. He had a terrific World Cup back in India (2023) where he played beautifully in the middle-order, and I actually felt then that he'd almost cemented that spot and made that his own," opined Ponting on ICC Review.
"Then he had those couple of injuries, obviously injured his back and went out of the side, but his domestic season this year has been brilliant."
"It sort of coincided with what he's done since around (IPL) auction time going forward in domestic cricket, he has been pretty much outstanding.”
Ponting also lauded the right-hander for his game against spin, with an average of 63 against tweakers. While he didn’t get a lot of opportunity to face a lot of spin, Iyer was at his critical best against pace, where he struck at 210.53 strike rate.
"He's got the game that will stand up to the white-ball formats, especially in that part of the world," Ponting said.
"On those wickets -- the slower, lower wickets -- he's dynamic on those. We know how good a hitter of spin bowling he is and teams tend not to bowl a lot of spin at India, but at some stage it's going to come."
"If Shreyas is out in the middle, then he's as good as anyone. So, I'm delighted to see him back in the team."