Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar has criticized star batsman Shreyas Iyer for taking a break from red-hot cricket for six months.
Dilip Venjarkar has stated that Shreyas Iyer is taking a break from red-ball cricket, giving fitness issues as an excuse, but being fully fit for white-ball cricket is beyond his understanding.
BCCI allows Shreyas Iyer to stay away from red-hot cricket
The 30-year-old Iyer played 14 Test matches for the India national cricket team and scored 811 runs at an average of 36.86, with one hundred and five fifties.
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He last played a Test match for India in February 2024 before being dropped from the side due to form and fitness issues. After that, he went grinding in domestic cricket and played many red-ball matches as well.
Shreyas Iyer was recently named as India’s captain for the four-day games against Australia A, and after playing the first match of the series, he decided to withdraw from the second match.
He was also in line to be named in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy, and there were expectations of him returning to the Indian Test team for the home series against the West Indies.
However, the batter asked the BCCI for six months of cricket red due to concerns about his back, and the BCCI gave him a green signal. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia said that they will give Iyer time to build stamina in his body and work on his fitness levels during this period.
I feel that if you are fit for white cricket, then obviously you are fit for red cricket as well -Dilip Vengsarkar
However, former India captain and BCCI selector Dilip Vengsarkar is not happy to see Shreyas Iyer away from red cricket, giving excuses for fitness and playing white cricket at the same time. He frankly said that if a player is fit for white cricket, he is fit for red cricket as well. Until midday, he said:
“To be honest, it’s a dilemma for me, because he (Ayer) says it’s not fit for red ball cricket, but it’s fit for white ball cricket. I don’t understand the difference between red ball cricket and white ball cricket.
“I feel that if you are fit for white cricket, then obviously you are fit for red cricket as well. Choosing red ball or white ball and such things are beyond my understanding,” he added.
He is one of those guys who hardly gets the credit he deserves – Harbhajan Singh
Rohit Sharma was recently sacked as India’s ODI captain, and Shubman Gill was handed captaincy for the tour of Australia. With Gill rising from vice-captain to captain, the BCCI named Shreyas Iyer as his vice-captain.
Captaining India came to Iyer after a lot of grinding and hard work, both at the IPL and domestic cricket level. Bowling legend Harbhayagan Singh was very happy to see Iyer back in the captaincy and described him as an impact player for India.
“I am very happy with Shreyas Iyer,” Harbhajan told JioHotstar. He’s one of those guys who barely gets the credit he deserves. Talking about the World Cup in India – he has scored back-to-back centuries, and fast! He’s an impact player. When he’s gone, he makes things easy for the locker room and other pools.
“I’m glad he’s back in the scheme of things, not just as a player but with greater responsibility as vice-captain. I’m looking forward to seeing what he brings to the table in terms of ideas and how he and Shubman Gill move forward,” he added.
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