After beating Australia by an inning and 132 runs, India are all set to host the Kangaroos in the second Test, starting on 17 February in Delhi. The two teams will meet at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital. Australia are wounded badly and would be eyeing a comeback and hence, would be making a handful of changes to their playing XI. India, meanwhile, are expected to play with more or less the same team.
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The only change that will be on the cards is Suryakumar Yadav making way for a fit-again Shreyas Iyer. The Mumbai batter missed out on the first Test due to a back injury. Suryakumar Yadav got his Test debut cap and was asked to bat at No.5 for India. However, the No.1 T20I batter could not replicate his T20I heroics in Tests and scored 8 runs off 20 balls. Now, with Iyer ready to play again, the management might ask Yadav to sit out.
Team India head coach, Rahul Dravid also hinted at the same during the pre-match press conference. Dravid said that Iyer will walk straight into the playing XI, provided he is ready to take the load of a five-day game.
"I'm glad that he's back and he's fit. We'll take a call after a couple of days of training. He's had a long session today, he's done some training today. We'll assess it tomorrow as well once he comes in for a light hit, and see how he feels in the evening. But certainly, if he's fit and ready to go, and ready to take the load of a five-day Test match, then, without doubt, his performance means he'll walk straight into the side," said Dravid at the press conference.
Notably, Iyer has cemented his place in the playing XI purely based on consistent performances, that too in Tests. The 28-year-old has scored 624 runs at an average of 56.72 in 12 innings of 7 matches. Iyer has scored one century and five half-centuries so far in Tests.
