Was Shreyas Iyer Preferred Over Washington Sundar in T20 World Cup Team?

With the Indian team in red-hot form across all departments of the game, it has now emerged that a section of the selection committee wanted Shreyas Iyer in the 15-member T20 World Cup squad instead of Washington Sundar, sources told CricBlogger.

With plenty of spin options already available — part-timers like Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh and captain Suryakumar Yadav, apart from frontline spinners such as Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav — certain selectors were keen on adding an extra specialist batter in Iyer. None of the board and team officials were available for comments.

Whether India head coach Gautam Gambhir pushed for Sundar’s inclusion remains unconfirmed. However, given the history of reported differences between Gambhir and Iyer during their time with Kolkata Knight Riders following their IPL triumph, speculation was perhaps inevitable.

Sundar was also injured days before the T20 World Cup and was declared fit in the nick of time. Incidentally, Iyer has returned to the Indian T20I side just before the T20 World Cup. The board had announced changes to the squad ahead of the five-match T20I series against New Zealand in January. The board had also confirmed then that Sundar, who sustained an injury during the first ODI against New Zealand, has been ruled out of the series.