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'Selection committee will also think...': Sunil Gavaskar's honest verdict on Shreyas Iyer after South Africa series
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has shared his honest verdict on Shreyas Iyer after the end of the South Africa series.
During a press conference, Shreyas Iyer retaliated when the premier batter was questioned about his short ball prowess at the One Day International (ODI) World Cup. Iyer had a fruitful World Cup campaign in which the Mumbaikar answered his critics by smashing three half-centuries. Averaging 66.25, Iyer amassed 530 runs in 11 matches at the World Cup. Though Iyer appeared to have burst the short-ball bubble by ending India's No. 4 debate at the ICC event, the swashbuckling has struggled to live up to expectations in the longest format of the game.
Talking about Iyer’s recent outings in South Africa, the premier batter had a forgetful series against the Proteas in the ongoing edition of the ICC World Test Championship. Iyer scored 31 off 50 balls before the star batter perished for 6 in the series opener against South Africa. Barring centurion KL Rahul, no batter crossed the 50-run mark as Rohit Sharma's Team India lost the opener by an innings and 32 runs.
Iyer accumulated only 41 runs with an average of 13.67 in the two-Test series against South Africa. Though Iyer struggled to get in the two-match series, the middle-order batter has received some support from batting legend Sunil Gavaskar before Team India's next high-profile series in the World Test Championship. Speaking on Star Sports about Iyer's form in the longest format, batting legend Gavaskar pointed out that the Mumbai batter was one of many players who had a mediocre series against the Proteas.
'Iyer is not the only player who failed'
"Shreyas Iyer is not the only player who failed because it's not easy for any batter on these pitches. If you see, barring Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, no one else scored too many runs," Gavaskar said. "You cannot point fingers at just one player. So I feel the selection committee will also think that he should probably be given more chances," he added.
How Iyer performed in Cape Town decider
With Indian skipper Rohit promising a fightback in the series decider of the South Africa series, Virat Kohli-starrer Team India rallied from a 1-0 deficit to beat Dean Elgar's men in the 2nd Test at Cape Town. Visitors India outplayed South Africa in the 2nd Test to record their first win over the Proteas at the famous venue. Iyer was dismissed for a two-ball duck, and the 29-year-old scored the winning run for India in the low-scoring Test match at Cape Town. In his six knocks against the SENA nations, Iyer has scored 15 & 19 in Birmingham, 31 and 6 in Centurion, 0 and 4 not out in Cape Town. Iyer is also averaging less than 40 in the longest format.
