Will Not Get A Chance....: Aakash Chopra's Bold Take On Shreyas Iyer's Selection In Test Cricket

Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra believes that Shreyas Iyer has no chance of getting selected in the ongoing England Test series due to the existing competition, especially in the middle-order lineup. When the squad for the five-match test series was announced, there was a lot of anger among the fans towards head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, because at that time Shreyas Iyer was ignored, whose first-class season was quite good for Mumbai.

The main reason for anger among the people was because at that time Shreyas Iyer was in the headlines because of IPL 2025, especially because his captaincy had impressed everyone a lot. He had led Punjab Kings quite well in IPL and also made a place for his team in the finals, so even after all these things, ignoring Iyer for the test was not expected by the audience.

Iyer last played a test match against England in the year 2024, but after that he was dropped in the middle of the series and was asked to play Ranji Trophy. However, he failed to play for the state, and after that, BCCI released him from the central contract. But now he has once again earned BCCI's central contract due to his strong performance in white-ball cricket, but fans are still waiting for his comeback in test cricket.

Talking about this, Aakash Chopra, in his YouTube channel, said that even Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel are still waiting for their chance. And among all these, Shreyas Iyer will also have to wait to get into the squad.

He said,

"There is no problem in batting. But he will have to wait for his chance; he will not get a chance directly now. He never gets a place in the team for the England tour. The rest of the players have also not gotten a chance."

Further, he added,

"If you think about it, Karun Nair has just played. Sarfaraz Khan is not being given chances. Dhruv Jurel is sitting out. If the players who are already there are not getting chances, then how can Shreyas Iyer get a chance?"

When the squad for the England test was announced, then chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar had said that despite Iyer's strong performance, he may not get a place in the 18-member team yet.

While talking to reporters, he had said,

"Yes, Shreyas Iyer has performed well in domestic cricket, but at present there is no place for him in the test team."

Iyer, in his test career till now, has played a total of 14 test matches in which he has scored 811 runs with an average of 36.81, in which he has smashed a century and five half centuries.