KL Rahul may get another lifeline as Shreyas Iyer fails to regain fitness

Team India's opening batter KL Rahul to get another lifeline alongside debutant Suryakumar Yadav after their recent failures with the bat against Australia in the first Test held at Nagpur. KL Rahul has managed to score only one half-century in his last 10 innings, while Surya’s Test debut will not be much memorable as he only managed to get 8 runs with the bat. Still, there were positives in the sides as skipper Rohit Sharma hit a century, and Axar and Jadeja also scored good runs to add up to 400 runs in the first innings. The bowling side flawlessly executed their plans and picked wickets at regular intervals and never allowed the Aussie side to settle. Jadeja and Aswin were the architects of India’s phenomenal bowling performance as India managed a huge victory in the first Test by an inning and 132 runs to go up 1-0 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. 

India’s middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer is still struggling with his back injury and till he regains his full fitness, he is unsure for the Second Test starting from Friday, February 17. 

Iyer travelled with the Indian team to Nagpur but later left for the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore for his recovery. “While he will travel with the side to Delhi, it’s unlikely that he will be available for the second Test,” an Indian Cricket Board source said as per reports.  

With the chances of Iyer getting ruled out, Suryakumar Yadav will most probably get another chance despite scoring just 8 runs on this Test Debut for India. ‘Sky’ is currently the No.1 T20 batter according to the World Rankings.

Iyer's back injury has kept him out of action since the ODI series against New Zealand the previous month. The 28-month-old batter has also missed a T20I series against New Zealand for his injury.

It is now to be seen that captain Rohit Sharma who smashed his ninth Test century in Nagpur, will be bold enough to drop KL Rahul and bring in-form Subhman Gill at the top of the Indian top order for the second Test series against Australia in Delhi. Rahul who has been out of form and has been struggling with the bat failed to fire in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh the previous year whereas Gill scored his maiden Test Century in the same series.