India’s Test regular Shreyas Iyer is doubtful for the second Test against Australia scheduled for February 17th in Delhi. Having missed the opening Test in Nagpur due to the back injury, Iyer, who was earlier reported to be joining the Indian camp for the remaining Tests, is now not likely to be considered for selection, a source close to the team said as reported by Times of India (TOI). Upon picking up the back injury that saw him miss the New Zealand home series also, Iyer reported to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for rehab. According to the source, Iyer will be there in Delhi but because he hasn’t really recovered yet, he might not be in contention for selection.
“While he will travel with the side to Delhi, it’s unlikely that he will be available for the second Test,” said a source as reported by TOI.
This means Suryakumar Yadav, who made his Test debut in Nagpur will get another chance to showcase his talent in the red-ball format. Coming off a great white-ball season, SKY – as his fans often call him, was tipped to make his highly-anticipated entrance into Tests against Australia in the marquee Border-Gavaskar series. He, however, didn’t have a great outing as he got out to Nathan Lyon clean bowled on eight in India’s only innings. Now, come the second Test, Suryakumar will like to leave an impact with a better performance.
Other than him, India will also miss the services of left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat, who was earlier released to play the Ranji Trophy final for Saurashtra against Bengal, slated for February 16th in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, India is unlikely to make a change to their winning XI for the second Test. While there was backlash on the internet over KL Rahul’s selection ahead of in-form Shubman Gill, the team management is expected to hand him with another chance to prove his mettle.
Whereas, Australia are expected to come up with sea of changes to their XI after suffering a humiliating loss by an innings and 132 runs in Nagpur. As per latest reports, ace seamer Mitchell Starc will be roped into the XI while their head coach Andrew McDonald sounded confident with the inclusion of left-arm orthodox Matthew Kuhnemann into the side too.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
