IND V AUS 2020: Ravi Shastri terms Shreyas Iyer the ‘cheeky sort’ even as reports of his Test inclusion emerge
Reports of Shreyas Iyer being asked to stay back in Australia for the Test series as a back-up for Rohit Sharma began to emerge on Tuesday. While no official announcement has been made, Team India coach Ravi Shastri’s cheeky tweet on Shreyas Iyer grabbed the attention.
Shastri put up a post on Twitter, with him and Shreyas Iyer involved in a training session. In the photos accompanying the post, Shastri is doing all the talking while the 25-year-old is seen paying rapt attention. The coach further revealed that he and Shreyas Iyer went to the same school and college.
"It needs one to know one. Seemed the cheeky sort. Then realised he was same school and college as me," Shastri's tweet read.
Shastri and Shreyas Iyer studied at Don Bosco High School in Matunga and then attended Ramniranjan Anandilal Podar College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai.
Team India members have constantly been posting pictures and videos from their net session in Australia. India’s tour will kick-off with the first ODI at Sydney on November 27. The one-dayers will be followed by as many T20Is and four Test matches, beginning at Adelaide on December 17.
Will Shreyas Iyer feature in Australia Tests?
Meanwhile, serious doubts have emerged over Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma's participation in the Test series in Australia. According to a report in Times of India, while Shreyas Iyer could be asked to stay back in Australia as a back-up after the limited-overs series, the other white-ball players will fly back.
In his first-class career so far, Shreyas Iyer has played 54 matches and has 4,592 runs to his name at an average of 52.18, with 12 hundreds and 23 fifties.
He totalled 1,321 runs in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy, with four centuries and seven fifties at an average of 73.39. Not only was he the highest scorer of the Ranji season, but he also scored a century in the final to help Mumbai lift their 41st title.
As for Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma, the duo is undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. But according to a Mirror report, their progress is not encouraging.
Earlier, on Monday, Team India coach Shastri had conceded that it will be difficult for Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma to feature in the Test series in Australia unless they were on a flight in the next three to four days.