India’s middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer has regained fitness and joined the squad in Delhi for the second Test starting February 17. Iyer was ruled out of the first Test at Nagpur due to back injury. Iyer is likely to be in the playing XI when India take the field at Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium.
Iyer completed his rehab at the National Cricket Academy and has been cleared by the BCCI Medical team.
In Iyer’s absence, white-ball speciallist Suryakumar Yadav made his Test debut ahead of in-form Shubman Gill. Suryakumar scored eight runs and got dismissed by veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Iyer has had a stellar record in red-ball cricket so far. From seven Tests he has scored 624 runs at an average of 56.72 including one century and five half-centuries.
He will boost India’s middle-order. The 28-year-old has been lethal against spinners. Australia are likely to play a left-arm spinner for the Delhi Test whether it is Ashton Agar or a debut for Matthew Kuhnemann.
Earlier, Jaydev Unadkat was released from the Test squad to play Ranji Trophy 2022-23 final. Unadkat will be leading Saurashtra against Bengal at Eden Gardens starting February 16.
India’s squad for second Test: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav
