New Delhi: With the appointment of Gautam Gambhir as the next India head coach almost certain, Shreyas Iyer is set to get a new lease of life as the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper is expected to make a comeback in the Sri Lanka ODIs. India lock horns with Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI series in July-August and Iyer, who was snubbed from BCCI’s cricket contracts list, is most likely to feature in the series.
Having led the KKR side to a record-winning IPL 2024 title, it’s also expected that he would make his comeback in the T20I series against Zimbabwe, which precedes the Sri Lanka ODI series. The Men in Blue and Zimbabwe will engage in a five-match T20I series starting July 5, almost a week after the culmination of the T20 World Cup 2024 and rumours are also doing rounds that he might feature against Zimbabwe also, although the chances for the same are quite grim.
The KKR connection
As per a report in news agency PTI, Gambhir, who is the front-runner for the post of India head coach, also happened to be KKR’s mentor in IPL 2024, which establishes a strong connection between him and Iyer. It is expected that he might end up putting in a word for Iyer after his appointment as Team India head coach.
Currently, a lot of young Indian players, who played the 17th edition of the cash-rich league, are currently training at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for the five T20Is against Zimbabwe. The squad for the same will likely be announced in the next week and with Iyer not at NCA right now, chances are less that he will be in contention for the T20Is.
“Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana, Nitish Reddy, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Dayal are all at the camp. Some will go to Zimbabwe T20Is,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The same source was quoted saying to PTI that there is every possibility that Shreyas will travel for the three-game ODI series in Sri Lanka. The last ODI that India played was in South Africa and he scored a half-century (52). He had scored 530 runs in the ODI World Cup and averages just around 50.
Earlier, Iyer along with Ishan Kishan were snubbed by the Indian cricket board from the central contracts list due to non-participation in the domestic games for their respective states. However, Iyer maintained that it was his recurring back issue that kept him out of action.
Shreyas Iyer is most likely to make a comeback in the Sri Lanka ODIs. India lock horns with the island nation in three-ODI series in July-August. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
