Shreyas Iyer Spotted Bowling In Nets Ahead Of ODI Series Against Sri Lanka

Indian fans may see more instances of role reversal in the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka, scheduled to begin on August 2. In the last match of the T20I series, Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh demonstrated their bowling talent in the death overs. Each of them picked two wickets, helping India tie the match before emerging victorious in the Super Over.

Now, ahead of the ODI series, Shreyas Iyer was spotted rolling his arms during a training session. Iyer had previously bowled 125 deliveries in international matches across all three formats. He conceded 43 runs in those games but could not take a wicket. He, however, has fetched 10 scalps in his domestic cricket.

This Sri Lanka series will be the first international white-ball assignment for Shreyas Iyer since February when he featured in ODIs in South Africa. Before that, Iyer represented India in the World Cup on home soil and aggregated 530 runs, including two centuries and three fifties.

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Shreyas Iyer was not part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) centrally contracted players earlier in February. It was reported that the batter was not playing enough red-ball cricket in the domestic circuit. Following the incident, Iyer won the Ranji Trophy with the Mumbai team before leading the Kolkata Knight Riders to their third Indian Premier League (IPL) triumph.

About the BCCI contract issue, Iyer said on his YouTube channel, “I had a terrific World Cup and I wanted to take a break after that and wanted to work on my body and build some strength around certain area. Due to lack of communication, there were some decisions, that didn’t go in my favour."

Shreyas Iyer is one of the six players who have rejoined the Indian squad after the T20I series against Sri Lanka. Rohit Sharma has also returned and he will lead the team in the ODIs. Virat Kohli will also make a return to the India squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka.

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After winning his first series (T20I) as the head coach, Gautam Gambhir will now aim to replicate the success in the 50-over format.