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India's nearly comfortable 4-wicket victory against England in the first ODI of the 3-match series saw some proven performers rise to the occasion. Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer were the top-scoring batters for India on Thursday, scoring 87 and 59 respectively while skipper Rohit Sharma flopped yet again. However, the team also missed the ever-reliant No. 3 Virat Kohli in the game due to an injury, while Yashasvi Jaiswal made his ODI debut. However, a rather shocking development took place after the conclusion of the match as Shreyas Iyer revealed that he wasn't originally supposed to play the match.
Iyer, in a chat with the broadcaster, said that he wasn't in the playing XI in the initial plan but Kohli's knee injury created space for him in the middle. The revelation from one of India's most consistent middle-order batters left many former cricketers shocked.
Aakash Chopra, former India cricketer-turned-pundit, said that he can't wrap his head around the fact that skipper Rohit and coach Gautam Gambhir had initially planned to leave Iyer out of the playing XI.
"Trying to wrap my head around the revelation that Iyer wasn't likely to play if Kohli was fit. He's the first Indian to score 500+ runs batting at 4 in a World Cup. 2023. How could you bench him?? And if he wasn't going to play, where was Kohli supposed to bat? At 4? Surely, Gill wasn't getting pushed to 4," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Trying to wrap my head around the revelation that Iyer wasn't likely to play if Kohli was fit.
He's the first Indian to score 500+ runs batting at 4 in a World Cup. 2023. How could you bench him??
And if he wasn't going to play, where was Kohli supposed to bat? At 4? Surely,…
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 6, 2025
Another former India cricketer, Parthiv Patel, highlighted Iyer's astounding statistics while also highlighting the mindset Rohit and Gambhir are approaching ODIs with.
"Interestingly, in the last 10 ODIs for India, Iyer's average is 60, and so does Shubman Gill," Parthiv said on Star Sports. "That is the reason why we all thought that Iyer would be 100% certainty. That is why you should just see Gautam Gambir and Rohit Sharma thinking what kind of combination India should go with in the next game because it looks like India want to go with Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma as openers and not Iyer in the middle order. So that would be very happy headache to have."
With Iyer managing to score a quick-fire fifty in the 1st ODI, the team management has a big headache to have for the second ODI, if Kohli recovers in time to be fit for selection.