T20 World Cup 2021: Shreyas Iyer to replace Suryakumar Yadav in Indian squad?

The Mumbai batsman averages 42 with the bat from 22 ODIs for India and 28.94 in T20 games with an impressive strike-rate of 133.81 with three fifties. In just four matches in IPL 2021, Shreyas Iyer has already managed to notch up 124 runs with a top-score of 47 not out.

Suryakumar Yadav (left) and Shreyas Iyer. (Source: Twitter)

Former Delhi Capitals Shreyas Iyer has been in sensational form since his return from shoulder injury. Iyer had led the Capitals into the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) final was set to lead the side in this season as well but injured his shoulder in the limited-overs series against England at home earlier this year.

The Mumbai batsman averages 42 with the bat from 22 ODIs for India and 28.94 in T20 games with an impressive strike-rate of 133.81 with three fifties. In just four matches in IPL 2021, Iyer has already managed to notch up 124 runs with a top-score of 47 not out. He is one of the three standby players announced by the Indian selectors for the T20 World Cup 2021, which will start in UAE and Oman later this month.

India can still make changes to their final squad by October 10th, according to ICC regulations and Iyer may be in line to replace Suryakumar Yadav, who has been struggling for form since the IPL moved to UAE. Yadav’s score of 33 off 26 balls against the Delhi Capitals was his best knock after all single-digit scores before that in second phase of IPL 2021. Iyer also scored an unbeaten 33 but guided his side home to a win in tough batting conditions in Sharjah.

Confident and composed! Great win team @DelhiCapitals pic.twitter.com/HrrakYaLNh — Shreyas Iyer (@ShreyasIyer15) September 25, 2021

Meanwhile, Iyer was pleased to bat through to the end of the innings and guide his side home against defending champions MI.

“I felt really amazing to bat through and take my team till the end. It was a low scoring game so I decided to stay till the end even though I was shifted lower down the order. I backed myself and backed my instincts. Whatever situation I’ll be in, I knew I would win the game. When you think positive, everything turns out to be your way. He (Ashwin) came in and he was really positive,” Shreyas told host broadcaster Star Sports after the match against Mumbai ended.

“His intent was to take singles as much as possible and rotate the strike and that went till the last two overs. After that, he started seeing the ball really well and decided that he’ll take on the bowlers. Both of us wanted to bat till the last ball, so he was like ‘I’ll take down, you just try to stay till the end and make sure you win the match for the team’. The transition has happened in the last two years and we have created that environment from 2019,” he added.

Just here to give you the winning feeling on a Sunday

| Here's what the dressing room looked like moments after #MIvDC #YehHaiNayiDilli #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/QgOp6Ypxc0 — Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) October 3, 2021

India’s T20 World Cup 2021 squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami.

Standby players: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.