Former Australian captain Ian Chappell didn’t mince words as he criticized Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from the Indian squad for the remaining England series. Iyer’s recent poor form and injury concerns led to his omission, with the batter managing only 104 runs in two Tests at an average of 26.
Ian Chappell applauded the return of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, emphasizing their strengthening impact on the team. Expressing satisfaction with the selectors’ decision to drop Iyer, Chappell highlighted the batter’s struggles, having gone eight Test innings without scoring a half-century. Chappell emphasized the importance of form and precision in team selection.
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In his column for ESPNcricinfo, Ian Chappell remarked, “India is a strong side, and they also have a good leader in Rohit Sharma. They will be greatly strengthened by Ravindra Jadeja’s and KL Rahul’s recovery from injury, but that Virat Kohli will not return for the rest of the series is a blow. Hopefully, the selectors will now stop overestimating Shreyas Iyer’s batting ability and learn to value Kuldeep Yadav’s wicket-taking capability more.”
Chappell also discussed the significance of England captain Ben Stokes’ return to bowling and slip fielding. Stokes, recovering from knee surgery, refrained from bowling medium pace in the first two Tests against India. Chappell expressed hope that Stokes would actively engage in the early batting stages, considering his prowess as an all-rounder and slip fielder.
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“It will help England enormously if Stokes is once again able to function as an allrounder, as his bowling is a distinct weapon. It would also help if he fielded in the slips, especially to the spinners, as he is one of the best in that position. One personal area Stokes could look at is his own batting. If he were more proactive at the start of each innings, it would improve his play. Stokes is a very good batter but he’s at his best when he’s looking to score,” wrote Ian Chappell.
