"Shreyas Iyer wasn't supposed to be benched throughout England series": Gambhir

Speaking about the rumours that Shreyas Iyer was supposed to be benched throughout the series, Gautam Gambhir cleared the air. He stated that the management decided to hand Yashasvi Jaiswal his debut cap in the ODIs following his form in Australia

Team India skipper Rohit Sharma finally opened up on whether Shreyas Iyer was supposed to be benched during the entire ODI series against England. The skipper stated that Iyer was always in the scheme of things.

Team India sealed the three-match ODI series against England by 3-0. Despite the side winning the series, some fans are still thinking about Shreyas Iyer's statement after India's win in the first ODI.

Shreyas Iyer revealed that he got a confirmation call late at night from Rohit Sharma that he would be playing the match. Virat Kohli's knee issue made a vacant spot for Iyer to fill in.

If the Indian stalwart had remained fit, then Shreyas would have started the series on the bench.

The 30-year-old played a swift counterattacking 59-run knock to lay the foundation for India's four-wicket win in the first ODI. He kept riding high on his momentum and ended the series with 181 runs at an average of 60.33.

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Speaking about the rumours that Shreyas Iyer was supposed to be benched throughout the series, Gautam Gambhir cleared the air. He stated that the management decided to hand Yashasvi Jaiswal his debut cap in the ODIs following his form in Australia.

"On Shreyas Iyer, he wasn't supposed to be benched throughout the series. We wanted to give Yashasvi a go in the first game and see what he could bring to the table because he was in really good form in Australia. So we wanted to see what kind of innings he can play," Gambhir said in the post-match press conference.

In the series' final match, Shreyas proved himself the best candidate among India's pool of talent for the number four spot in the ODIs. He balanced his aggression with composure to entertain the crowd with his belligerent 78 from 64 deliveries, laced with eight fours and two towering sixes.

"I know that one inning; you can't judge someone by one inning. But we always knew that Shreyas was going to be an important player for us; what he's done at number four because number four beat the World Cup, or forget about even the World Cup, he's just an important player," he added.

Gambhir laid out the squad's rotation policy, which allows every player to get an opportunity before the Champions Trophy 2025 begins on February 19.

"So sometimes, when you've only got three games, you want to try and rotate your squad as well. See, for today, we could have easily played Shami, but we wanted to give Arshdeep a go. We could have played Jadeja as well; we gave Washington a go as well," he said.

"So when you've got the Champions Trophy around the corner, you want to try and maximize these three games and try and give everyone an opportunity. But Shreyas was always in the scheme of things, and it's good that he played all three games. It's still early days; I think guys have shown some really good signs; Harshit has come along really well; Ash was really good today as well; he got his first opportunity," he added.

(With ANI Inputs)

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