With the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rishabh Pant being rested, KL Rahul was to get the perfect opportunity to play in Test again, however, he was ruled out due to injury as the team geared up for the first Test against New Zealand at Kanpur. While Suryakumar Yadav is named as KL Rahul’s replacement, many were questioning who would be filling the No 4. spot.
However, India stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane on Wednesday confirmed that Shreyas Iyer will be making his Test debut in the opening game in the Green Park Stadium on Thursday.
Speaking to the media Rahane said: “Shreyas Iyer is going to make his debut.” Iyer will be filling in for the void left open by Virat Kohli.
The Indian side will be high on confidence as they enter the contest having beaten New Zealand 3-0 in the recently-concluded T20I series.
It will be surely interesting to see what combination head coach Rahul Dravid goes in with major top players rested. While Iyer is expected to take the No. 4 spot, it becomes a little clear that Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill will be opening with Cheteshwar Pujara coming in to bat at his usual No. 3 position.
Rahane will follow him at the No. 5 spot and Wriddhiman Saha would be seen taking up the spot behind the stumps in the absence of first-choice wicket-keeper batsman Pant.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently made an impressive comeback to India’s T20I side, also be part of the playing XI along with either Axar Patel or Ravindra Jadeja in the spin department.
Among the pacers, Mohammed Siraj is all but certain to feature and the side would have to choose between Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav for the second seamer’s spot.
