Gambhir and Rohit Express Outrage over Decision to Bench Shreyas Iyer: Champions Trophy Strategy Exposed

India head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma were left furious after Shreyas Iyer's shocking revelation following the conclusion of the Nagpur opener against England on Thursday. Iyer, who played a crucial role in the match by scoring a match-winning fifty at No. 4, disclosed that he was not initially slated to play in the series opener and only got the opportunity due to Virat Kohli's injury.

Speaking to the broadcasters after India's four-wicket win at the VCA Stadium, where Iyer played a counter-attacking knock to spark the team's come back after a poor start to the chase of 249, the star batter revealed that he was not the scheme of things for the Nagpur tie and was only informed about his participation after Rohit told him on the eve of the game that Kohli had suffered from swollen knee.

The revelation left Star Sports experts Kevin Pietersen and Parthiv Patel shocked and as did Aakash Chopra, who was left fuming at the team management. Chopra then served a reminder on Iyer's heroics in the 2023 World Cup, where he was the second-highest run-getter for India and the team's best-ever No. 4 in a World Cup edition.

“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 tweeted.

India's Champions Trophy plan laid bare after Iyer's remark

Parthiv was left dumbfounded after Iyer's revelation, who thereafter remained silent on India's plans ahead of the Champions Trophy, but the former India wicketkeeper speculated that the management is probably looking at Yashasvi Jaiswal as an opener and Gill in the middle-order.

"Interestingly, in the last 10 ODIs for India, Iyer's average is 60, and so does Shubman Gill," he told 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."

If Kohli does recover for the second game on Sunday in Cuttack, it remains to be seen if India drop Iyer after his knock in Nagpur.

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