Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has backed Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer to deliver the goods in the second Test match against England at Vizag. While Gill returned with scores of 23 and 0 in the opening Test match, Iyer could only manage 35 and 13 at Hyderabad.
Gill could only score 74 runs at an average of 18.50 in the two Test matches against South Africa and thus the pressure is building on the youngster.
Iyer has scored 755 runs in 13 Test matches whereas Gill has scored 1063 runs in 21 Test matches. Pathan feels Virat Kohli’s absence is the massive factor.
“A senior player like Virat Kohli’s absence is a massive factor. Over that KL Rahul is also injured. So the team management has plenty to think about. They need to think whether to give a chance to a new player straight away or wait a bit. There is no doubt that these two boys (Gill and Iyer) haven’t performed for quite some time now but it’s not that they have never performed,” said Pathan on the sidelines of the launch of the Asian Legends League.
Pathan continued: “Obviously, there are two new players in the squad — Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz. But the Indian team management doesn’t have Virat Kohli’s services at the moment, so it will be difficult for the team management to blood in a new player straightaway. They would want to back experience. So it’s a big challenge but looking at the scenario, they might be now thinking of going with experience. ”
“Shreyas and Shubman have been there for quite some time now and have experience, which comes into play in crunch situations. I feel the team management will back them because 2-3 experienced players are not there in the team.”
India lost the opening Test match by 28 runs but Pathan believes the hosts will still win the five-match Test series against England.
“We lost just one match but that doesn’t mean our bowlers are not good. I knew we would lose one or two matches but it is good because there is plenty of learning from defeat. I hope we win the series and I still feel India will win the series. The series is not over yet. I was really shocked that we lost but I am still hopeful that we will make a comeback,” said Pathan.
The second Test match between India and England will be played at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam from 2nd February.
