Shreyas Iyer unlikely to tour Australia for Test series: Reports

Shreyas Iyer's chances of making it to the Indian squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia seem to have taken a massive hit following his poor shot selection in the ongoing Duleep Trophy, according to reports. In his four innings in the tournament so far, the India D captain has registered scores of 9, 54, 0 and 41. However, the way he has gotten out after being well-set has irked the selectors.

“At the moment, there’s no room for Shreyas to be in the Test team. Who will he replace? Besides, his shot selection has been a concern in Duleep [Trophy], especially yesterday [September 15]. He was well set and then suddenly played such a shot [off Shams Mulani]. When you are set and then batting on a flat deck, you need to make the best use of that opportunity,” pointed out a BCCI official, as quoted by the Telegraph.

However, Iyer will have plenty of opportunities to redeem himself. There's still one more round of the Duleep Trophy to go (September 19 onwards). After that, there's the Irani Cup and the Ranji Trophy season as well. But, it could be too late for the batter to make his case for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, beginning November 22. 

Moreover, his weakness against the short balls is another thing that works against him. “Shreyas could be there [in the Mumbai squad] for the Irani Cup [beginning on October 1 in Lucknow]. Even if he’s picked for the Bangladesh T20Is [from October 6], he still might play Irani and then be available from the second T20I onwards," said another Board official.

“Now, if he doesn’t fire in Irani too, he still has the Ranji Trophy to get runs. It wasn’t too many days ago when he was batting so well in last year’s ODI World Cup. He suffered an injury too, which needs to be considered.

“Also, with still one round left in Duleep, you never know he might score a hundred. He needs to regain form. Most likely he won’t go to Australia for his problems against the short ball, but one can’t just ignore his runs at home.”

Iyer last played a Test for India in February 2024, against England, in Visakhapatnam.

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