India’s veteran batter Shreyas Iyer has been rested for the IND vs SA 2nd T20I in Gqeberha as India continue to experiment with their team combination ahead of T20 World Cup 2024. Tilak Varma got an opportunity in place of the star batter on Tuesday.
India made 5 changes to their XI for the 2nd T20I. Axar Patel made way for Ravindra Jadeja, who is also the vice-captain for the series. Meanwhile, pacer Mohammed Siraj, who is returning to XI after World Cup final, replaced Avesh Khan.
Young spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who recently claimed the top spot in ICC T20I bowler’s rankings, had to make way for veteran Kuldeep Yadav.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was a forced change as the batter fell ill ahead of the game.
Shreyas vs Tilak for number 3 spot?
It seems that the Indian team management is testing both Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma for the number 3 spot. Earlier, Shreyas Iyer returned for last two T20Is against Australia and replaced Tilak Varma.
While Shreyas Iyer’s preferred spot is Number 4, he was promoted to number 3 in the absence of Ishan Kishan and skipper Suryakumar Yadav occupied the Number 4 spot.
It needs to be noted that Team India have limited opportunities to try and test the combination before the T20 World Cup. With the first match against the Proteas getting washed out, the Men in Blue have only 5 international games to sort their team for the ICC tournament.
Players like Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma will get only few opportunities to make their case strong for the World Cup.
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