India-England: Why Shreyas Iyer was nearly benched for 1st ODI
What's the story
Team India's head coach Gautam Gambhir has backed Shreyas Iyer ahead of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
This comes after Iyer's brilliant performance in the recently-concluded three-match series against England, where he recorded two fifty-plus scores.
"I know that you can't judge someone (Yashasvi Jaiswal) by one innings. But we always knew that Shreyas was going to be an important player for us," Gambhir said.
Performance review
Iyer silences speculation about his team position
Iyer's place in the team was under the scanner after his remarks post the first ODI against England. He hinted his selection was because of Virat Kohli's knee injury-related absence.
Notably, Jaiswal played the opener in place of Kohli with Iyer at number four.
Despite speculation of being replaced by Kohli for the last two ODIs, Iyer held on to his place.
Jaiswal
Jaiswal's ODI debut and subsequent exclusion
Jaiswal made his ODI debut in the Nagpur game against England on February 6.
He opened with Rohit Sharma, with Shubman Gill and Iyer following at number three and four, respectively. The decision was taken as injured Kohli missed the match.
However, when Kohli returned for the 2nd ODI in Cuttack, Jaiswal was dropped from the team.
Consistency
Iyer bolsters India's batting line-up
In Nagpur, he scored a brisk 59(36) when India were reeling at 19/2 while chasing 249.
Iyer continued his rich vein of form in the England series, scoring 44 and 78 in the next two games.
Gambhir said the management had initially planned to try Jaiswal in the first game, given his phenomenal form in Australia. But Iyer's potential wasn't ignored.
"Sometimes when you've only got three games, you want to try and rotate your squad as well," added Gambhir.