Venkatesh Prasad questions Shreyas Iyer's place in the team after his duck in the first T20I against West Indies

India’s resounding victory against West Indies in the first T20I by 68 runs gave them a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. After whitewashing the West Indies team in the ODI series, Rohit Sharma’s men didn’t give an inch to the home side in their dominating win at the Brian Lara Stadium on 29th July, Friday.

West Indies captain, Nicholas Pooran won the toss and invited India to bat first. The Indian innings was held together by stupendous knocks from captain Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik, who scored 64 and 41 respectively. But it was the performance of one Indian batter that attracted the most attention in the match.

Shreyas Iyer, who came in to bat at no three, failed to trouble the scorers as he was dismissed for a four-ball duck. Iyer’s forgettable outing in the middle invited comments from former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad, who has raised questions over his selection.

Prasad stated that some selections in the Indian team baffle him, especially that of Shreyas Iyer over other batters like Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda and Ishan Kishan.

“Some of the selection calls keeping the upcoming World T20 in mind are worth pondering. Shreyas Iyer in T20 cricket when you have Sanju Samson, Hooda, and Ishan Kishan in the team is bizarre. With Virat, Rohit, and Rahul definite starters, need to work on getting right balance,” Venkatesh Prasad said in a tweet.

Some of the selection calls keeping the upcoming World T20 in mind are worth pondering. Shreyas Iyer in T20 cricket when you have Sanju Samson, Hooda and Ishan Kishan in the team is bizarre. With Virat, Rohit and Rahul definite starters ,need to work on getting right balance.

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) July 29, 2022

Iyer found himself amongst the runs in the recently concluded ODI series against the West Indies where he scored 161 runs in three innings at an average of 53.66. But the former Indian pacer feels that the batter needs to revamp his game in T20 cricket and needs to start showing more intent.

“He is good in 50-over cricket. In T20 cricket, there are better players as of now who can get going from the word go. Shreyas will have to work hard on his skills for T20,” The ex-Indian cricketer said in another tweet.

He is good in 50 over cricket. In T20 cricket, there are better players as of now who can get going from the word go. Shreyas will have to work hard on his skills for T20

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) July 29, 2022

The 27-year-old broke the record of scoring the most runs in a three-match T20I series earlier this year when he scored 204 runs at a strike rate of 174 against Sri Lanka. The right-handed batter surpassed former Indian captain Virat Kohli as he achieved this feat.  If we take those three innings out, the batter has scored 147 runs at an average of 21 in eight innings in the year so far.

Iyer’s woes against the short-balls are known to everyone. Keeping in mind that the upcoming 20-20 world cup will be played in Australia where pitches assist bowlers with good bounce, Iyer will have to quickly alter his game to counter his weakness in order to cement his place in the team for the mega event.