Shreyas Iyer can be the solution to our number 4 slot, says MSK Prasad

Indian cricket team has evolved a lot under the tenure of the BCCI selection panel with MSK Prasad as the chief selector. The Indian team attained and has cemented their spot as the no.1 Test team in the ICC rankings and are also moving upwards in ODI and T20I rankings as well. The team also found some brilliant players in various formats who will serve for a long time.

One such player is Shreyas Iyer, who was previously ignored by the selection committee as they hunted for a candidate for the problematic no.4 spot in the ODI team in the lead up to the World Cup. The BCCI selectors tried Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni, Vijay Shankar and Ambati Rayudu amongst others, but settled on KL Rahul in the World Cup 2019. However, now MSK Prasad has given a solution to this conundrum as his tenure reaches its end.

Shreyas Iyer can settle No.4 debate in ODIs and T20s: MSK Prasad

44-year-old former India wicketkeeper MSK Prasad, who was appointed chief selector in 2016, and whose tenure will come to end shortly, called Shreyas Iyer’s omission from the plans for 2019 World Cup, unfortunate. “If you recall, we had inducted Shreyas Iyer (when Virat Kohli was rested) 18 months back into the ODI squad and he has done reasonably well. Unfortunately, we couldn’t continue with him. Having said that, he has evolved as a player now and he can be the solution to our number 4 slot in both ODIs and T20s,” Prasad was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

The 24-year-old Mumbai batsman made his debut in 2017 in the blue jersey. After being discarded ahead of the World Cup, Iyer went back to domestic cricket and churned out big numbers for his home team and India A, earning his place back for the South Africa series and has kept his place in the playing XI for the Bangladesh series and now will be seen in the West Indies series in both ODI and T20I matches.

He also lauded his selection committee for turning the Indian pace attack into a lethal one by giving the opportunity to proper talents at the proper time. “Except Bumrah, the other fast bowlers (Ishant, Umesh, Shami) had been in the circuit even before our committee took over. Only thing is that they all have combined well as a unit during our tenure…we have been instrumental in helping Bumrah to evolve into a top-class bowler across all formats,” said Prasad, who played six Tests and 17 ODIs for India in the early 2000s.

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