India batter Shreyas Iyer played a key role in India's victory against England in the first ODI. He scored a crucial 59 runs off 36 balls, smashing nine fours and two sixes. However, after the post-match interview, Iyer made a shocking revelation about his inclusion in the team's Playing XI. He stated that he was not part of the team for the first ODI.
In the first ODI against England, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Harshit Rana made their debuts, respectively, and Rohit Sharma and Mohammad Shami handed them their debut caps. The star Indian batter Virat Kohli was ruled out from the playing XI due to a swollen right knee. It was assumed that Jaiswal was Kohli's replacement, but Iyer revealed that Jaiswal was already part of the team, and Iyer was to sit on the bench.
After the post-match interview, Iyer stated that he wasn't supposed to play the first game. Unfortunately, Virat got injured; that's the reason he got the opportunity to play.
"I wasn't supposed to play the first game. As we all know, Virat unfortunately got injured, and then I got the opportunity. But I had kept myself prepared. I knew that, you know, at any point in time, I could get a chance to play. And the same thing happened to me last year during the Asia Cup. I got injured, and someone else came, and he scored a century."
The 30-year-old described last night's story, stating that he was watching the movie last night and was about to extend his nighttime. But then he got a call from the skipper stating that he couldn't play because Virat had gotten a swollen knee, and that was the time he went back to the room and slept.
"It's a funny story. I was watching the movie last night. I thought that I could extend my nighttime. Then I got a call from the skipper saying that I may play because Virat has a swollen knee, and I hurried back to my room and went off to sleep straight. So we didn't know that."
Iyer has played a very crucial role for the team at No. 4 in ODIs for the past few years. If we look at his stats from the 2023 ODI World Cup, then he was India's second-highest run-scorer, scoring 530 runs at an average of 66.25, smashing two centuries and three fifties. Once again he proved his brilliance in the first ODI, giving a good start to the team after the early dismissal of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma. Even after this much effort and performance, the team is not considering him in the playing XI. Now, it will be interesting to see if Iyer gets to play in the second ODI if Virat Kohli gets fit.
The second ODI between India and England will be played on February 9, Sunday, at the Barabati Stadium.