Shreyas Iyer has been dropped by the selectors after poor form in Test cricket. The middle-order batter has been inconsistent form in the traditional format of the game. Ahead of the 3rd Test against England former India opener Aakash Chopra has dropped comments about the batter. The former batter believes has been dropped from the final three Tests between India and England due to his batting strategy in the second Test.
On Saturday, February 10, the Indian selectors picked their squad for the final three Tests against England. Shreyas, who scored 104 runs at an average of 26.00 in the first two games, was not selected despite apparently complaining of tight back and groyne aches. In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Chopra stated that Shreyas would be available for the final two tests.
However, he thought that the Mumbai batter's strategy, in contrast to the one followed by Shubman Gill in the Visakhapatnam Test, may have prompted the selectors to not pick him. He also stated that Shreyas was backing away while playing James Anderson and even the spinners in the first innings of the second Test. The batter has not scored a single half-century in the last 13 innings in the longest format.
He was available for selection because there are three matches: Aakash Chopra
The 46-year-old said, "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."
"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."