Shreyas Iyer was left out of the India squad for the Test series against Bangladesh and if his recent performances are considered, his comeback won’t be easy. Iyer showed signs of a return to form after he scored a brisk fifty for India D in the first-round match of the Duleep Trophy, however, he couldn’t back his performance with another good knock and was dismissed for a duck in the second game.
Iyer is seen as someone with great potential but somehow he hasn’t justified his talent with performances which led to his ouster from the team. He was given an opportunity to replace Ajinkya Rahane in the Test squad, but he let it slip out of his hand. As things stand, Iyer is now long behind in the queue for a place in the Test team.
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali minced no words while slamming Iyer for his inconsistency. Ali said Iyer doesn’t have the hunger to play red-ball cricket. Ali added that Iyer is lucky Rahane and Pujara are not playing the Duleep Trophy.
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“As a cricketer, it saddens me to see him. If you are getting out in front, your concentration isn’t in the game. And especially the red-ball game. He has scored two centuries in the World Cup, he’s an IPL-winning captain, he should’ve scored 100-200 runs here. Iyer is so lucky that Rahane and Pujara aren’t playing in the Duleep Trophy,” said Basit.
Ali further said if he was a selector, he wouldn’t have picked Iyer in the Duleep Trophy squad, adding that he is not respecting the game.
“Iyer doesn’t have the hunger for red-ball cricket anymore. He’s only hungry for boundaries. You should prioritise it. If he’s thinking he is similar to Virat Kohli after hitting two centuries in World Cup, no, it doesn’t happen that way. I’m sorry to Indians who like him, but if I was India’s selector, Iyer wouldn’t have been in the Duleep Trophy at all. He’s not respecting the game.”