With Team India failing to reach the semi-final in the T20 World Cup, a 16-member squad for the upcoming T20I home series against New Zealand has been announced by the BCCI on Tuesday. And, three players have earned their maiden call-ups – Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan.
However, Virat Kohli has been rested and Rohit Sharma has been named as captain and KL Rahul appointed as vice-captain. Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Iyer has already impressed everyone with his batting in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season’s UAE leg. In 10 games, he managed to score 370 runs and take three wickets as well.
Arriving soon in 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙧 style 😎
✋ if you can't wait to see @ivenkyiyer2512 in Team 🇮🇳 colours! #KKR #AmiKKR #INDvNZ #VenkateshIyer pic.twitter.com/vxMfwOMBNS
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) November 11, 2021
With all-rounder Hardik Pandya having been rested, Venkatesh Iyer could play a key role as well. While speaking to Sports Today, former India player Sunil Gavaskar added that Iyer can also be groomed to bat lower down the order at No. 6 or No. 7 as well. He also said that his bowling skills could be useful too.
“Absolutely (Venkatesh Iyer can be groomed). (Bat) Down the order at about No. 6 or No. 7 and with his medium pace and stuff, we are talking about a 4-over spell. If you can do that, you have got another option,” he said.
Hopefully, he will get more opportunities – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar also hopes Venkatesh Iyer gets more opportunities unlike Vijay Shankar and Shivam Dube. Notably, both showed promise on many occasions but failed to get enough opportunities to play for India.
“I think, over the last 3-4 years, we were fixated with just one option that we didn’t deal with someone like Vijay Shankar or Shivam Dube the way we should have but hopefully, with Venkatesh Iyer, he will get more opportunities than these two guys got. That will give us options. Once we have more options, then nobody takes the place in the team for granted”, Gavaskar concluded.
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