India vs Australia: India were hoping that middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer will regain fitness for the second Test, starting in Delhi from Friday (February 17).
It seems the beleaguered opener KL Rahul will get another lifeline along with debutant Suryakumar Yadav after their failures with the bat in the first Test against Australia in Nagpur. Rahul has only scored one fifty in his last 10 innings, while Suryakumar Yadav who made his Test debut managed to score just 8 as India won the Test by an innings and 132 runs to go 1-0 up in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
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India were hoping that middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer will regain fitness for the second Test, starting in Delhi from Friday (February 17). However, Iyer, who is struggling with a back injury has still not regained full fitness.
Iyer had gone to Nagpur with the Indian team, but then left for the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore for his recovery. “While he will travel with the side to Delhi, it’s unlikely that he will be available for the second Test,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by TOI newspaper.
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With Iyer almost ruled out, Suryakumar Yadav will in all likelihood get another opportunity after scoring just 8 runs on Test debut. ‘Sky’, who is the world No. 1 T20 batter pipped in-form Shubman Gill for a middle-order spot.
A bad back has kept Iyer out of action since the ODI series against New Zealand last month. The 28-year-old Mumbaikar has been recovering from the injury, which forced him to miss the T20I series against New Zealand too, at NCA.
It remains to be seen if skipper Rohit Sharma, who scored his ninth Test century in Nagpur, will be bold enough to drop KL Rahul and bring in Gill at the top of the order for the second Test in Delhi. Rahul has been struggling with the bat, failing to fire in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh last year where Gill scored his maiden Test hundred.
