Team India will be obliged to compete in the World Test Championship final without its three key players. Shreyas Iyer has now joined Rishabh Pant and Jaspreet Bumrah on the list.
The last match of the second World Test Championship between India and Australia will begin on June 7 at the Kennington Oval in London. Before this, Team India had experienced two huge setbacks. Although Jasprit Bumrah has already been ruled out, the squad may now suffer a major setback in the form of middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer. Citing a BCCI source, Iyer has been ruled out of the whole IPL 2023 season as well as the World Test Championship final. According to the report, Iyer has opted to have the procedure done in another country. In such a circumstance, Team India now has a major challenge.
Three major Test players will not be available for the Indian team. Rishabh Pant was hurt in the crash, and Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer are dealing from back issues. Bumrah’s surgery has been completed, and Iyer will soon have surgery. In this circumstance, the most pressing question is who will succeed Iyer. Suryakumar Yadav, on the other hand, was recently named to the Test team against Australia.
In the absence of Shreyas Iyer, he also played the opening Test of the series. Except from T20, his bat did not perform well in ODIs or Tests. In this circumstance, he has shown to be a failure in the absence of Iyer. So one such name comes to everyone’s mind, which most likely everyone thought was the end of his career.
Actually, we’re talking about Hanuma Vihari, who hasn’t played a single Test since last year’s tour of England. Before, he was a regular member of the Test team led by Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri. But, under Rohit Sharma’s leadership, the team’s management may have lost trust in him. Yet it should not be forgotten that this is the same Hanuma Vihari who, despite being injured, salvaged India’s Test match in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21.
He has prior experience playing in Australia’s speed attack. Vihari toured Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21, and he was instrumental in India’s victories both times. He has extensive experience playing players such as Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc. In such a case, he might be a valuable asset to Team India.
Hanuma Vihari is a part-time bowler in addition to being a respectable batter in Test cricket. He has appeared in 16 Test matches for India. He has 839 runs to his name, including a century and five half-centuries. He has also grabbed five wickets at the same time. His recent performance, though, has been unexceptional. In the Ranji Trophy 2022-23, he scored runs but did not play long innings.
Despite his injury, he made news here as well when he came out to bat with one hand. It has to be observed whether the selectors would become a supporter of this struggling player’s career or will place their confidence only in Suryakumar Yadav.
