Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped from the Indian team. The veteran batter, along with Ajinkya Rahane, was dropped from from Test squad for the two-match series against Sri Lanka. Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill and Priyank Pancha have been preferred for the upcoming series.
With Pujara and Rahane no longer part of the squad, it will be interesting to see their replacements at No. 3 and 5 for India.
Former India batter Gautam Gambhir feels that 27-year-old Shreyas Iyer is the ideal candidate to replace Pujara in the Playing XI.
“He has been brilliant for the national team. Iyer showed his class in debut Test against New Zealand. Shreyas has all the shots and can be a successful middle-order batter. He can be the perfect No.3 batter for India. I don’t see why he can replace Pujara in the team,” said Gambhir.
He joined the likes of Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw when Iyer scored a hundred in Kanpur.
However, he hasn’t been given consistent chances by the management. Shreyas was benched during the series in South Africa.