"Not The Only Player Who Failed": Sunil Gavaskar's Blunt Take On Shreyas Iyer's Form

India's tour of South Africa left a bitter-sweet taste in the mouths of Indian players. The 1-1 draw was satisfactory but the performance of Indian batters on tricky pitches left a lot to be desired. One batter who particularly underperformed was Shreyas Iyer, scoring just 41 runs in 4 innings at an average of 13.67. However, India legend Sunil Gavaskar doesn't think the selectors will look too much into Iyer's performance as he wasn't the only batter who failed in the 2-match series.

While KL Rahul scored a century in the first Test, Virat Kohli ended the series as the top-scoring player for the tourists with 172 runs in 4 innings. Rahul was the second-highest scorer among Indians, aggregating 113 runs in 3 innings, including a hundred.

"Shreyas Iyer is not the only player who failed because it's not easy for any batter on these pitches. If you see, barring Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, no one else scored too many runs," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

"You cannot point fingers at just one player. So I feel the selection committee will also think that he should probably be given more chances," he added.

The likes of Rohit Sharma, Shuman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, etc. all struggled with the bat, finding it tricky to face South African pacers on the bouncy pitches. 

With the veteran Cheteshwar Pujara scoring a double century in Ranji Trophy, one of the Indian batters could face the axe for the 5-match Test series against England. Pujara wasn't given the nod for the tour of South Africa, a decision that left many fans disappointed. 

Some former cricketers even questioned the selectors' decision to not pick Ajinkya Rahane for the tour of Rainbow Nation despite the stats the veteran batter has when it comes to SENA countries. Of the two, Pujara could fancy his chances for the England assignment.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team South Africa Cricket Team Shreyas Iyer Sunil Gavaskar South Africa vs India Cricket