"India should play him over Gill in 1st Test vs AUS"- Dinesh Karthik names an Ideal replacement for injured Shreyas Iyer
Australia reached India on Wednesday and will have a four-day training camp in Bengaluru ahead of the first game. India will play their last test in the ongoing World Test Championship and have the last chance to secure a position in the WTC final.
Meanwhile, India already had been suffering from injuries to their key players, and ahead of the first test, India suffered a major blow when star batter Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the first test due to his fitness. Iyer has been at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for his rehab.
Some media reports confirmed that Iyer is unlikely to feature in the first test, which will leave the Indian management a big hole to fill. India is already without Rishabh Pant, and with no Iyer in the middle order, India will need someone reliable.
However, they have the option of Shubman Gill or Suryakumar Yadav, who can bat in the middle order. Notably, Rohit will be back in the squad and is likely to open with KL Rahul in the first tests, which means Gill has to make way for those two.
Thus, Gill could be tried in the middle order as he is going through a purple patch at the moment and recently scored his maiden Test century against Bangladesh. On the other hand, Suryakumar is good against spin and is also in good form; he can be a surprise package for India in Pant's absence and can take on the bowlers.
However, veteran Indian wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik reckons that India should prefer Suryakumar over Gill if Iyer misses the first test. In an interaction on Cricbuzz, Karthik said that Gill might warm the bench in the first game.
Karthik said, “In Shreyas Iyer’s place, Suryakumar Yadav should get a chance instead of Shubman Gill. I feel SKY is a better player of spin bowling, and we will play on turning tracks. Give him a chance, as he has been in red-hot form."
Furthermore, DK also said that Rahul will open with Rohit in the first test, and Gill also knows that Rahul might get preference over him in the first game.