Iyer calls India’s top-order selection headache a ‘luxury’ ahead of Afghanistan T20I

India captain Shreyas Iyer says the abundance of top-order options is a luxury ahead of Sunday’s T20I against Afghanistan. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan are competing for places in the batting order

New Delhi: India captain Shreyas Iyer faces a tight selection decision over the make-up of the top order ahead of Sunday’s first T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, but he feels the depth of talent is more of a luxury than a headache.

India face a tight selection call over their top-order options, with teenage batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan in contention. After Samson had low scores in Ireland and England, Sooryavanshi opened the batting with Abhishek, including in three straight games against Zimbabwe in July.

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“As you rightly said, all three of them, having them in the team is a luxury first of all, and they are flawless in their own departments. Well, it is going to be a tight call because they have been performing consistently.

“See, whoever gets the opportunity, definitely it’s for the team’s benefit, and for the player sitting outside, it’s important that I have an interaction with him along with the coach and give him that confidence — that, no matter what, you will get your opportunity when the day comes,” said Iyer at the pre-match press conference on Saturday.

Addressing the fitness of Ishan Kishan, who pulled up with a back issue during Friday’s practice session, Iyer said the wicketkeeper-batter should be fine.

“Well, I feel that he is comfortable at the moment. I interacted with him after the practice session.

“It was just a small niggle, and he has been playing continuous cricket. We all know the knock he played. So, definitely a bit fatigued. But today he got that rest, and I am sure that he will be fine for tomorrow,” he said.

Asked about his preferred playing XI combination, especially in terms of all-rounders, Iyer said he likes players to be picked to perform specific roles at specific positions.

“Talking about what combination I love is that to be having a specific player in the right position, and each and every individual.

“Rather than knowing the role, it’s important that they should have that awareness of what the team requires of you because when you say that this is your role in the team, that puts immense pressure on the player. If you could probably phrase it in a better way, saying that your team requires you in this particular role. You feel needed and wanted for the team.”

Iyer also touched upon the physical demands placed on international players, especially with the Centre of Excellence becoming crowded with injured men’s team personnel.

“See, I feel it’s not frustrating. We need to understand, first of all, the number of matches a player is playing continuously, rigorously.

“He is prone to getting injured some of the other way because the intensity is pretty high, and then we also need to understand that not every player thinks of getting injured deliberately. It is because they are putting effort for the team, and if that effort turns out to be on a negative side, you can’t control it.

“All you can control is who is available on that given day, and you need to give that sort of confidence to that particular player. Talking about the combination, I feel that it certainly impacts the combination. But we know how all the players are. Even if there is a backup, he is equally important for the team, and we know that they can deliver as well.”