Mumbai stars Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer and skipper Sarfaraz Khan will be in action against TNCA XI in the Buchi Babu tournament on Tuesday. While Shreyas and Sarfaraz will aim to earn their way back to a spot in India Tests, Suryakumar hope to find his way into the Test side as well, thus establishing himself as an all-format player. The Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament marks the start of the domestic season which will include the Duleep Trophy as well later.
Triple-threat battle between SKY, Iyer and Sarfaraz for one spot?
The competition between the three stars will be for one possible spot only in India’s Test squad. The Men in Blue will begin their Test season with a two-match series against Bangladesh followed by a series against New Zealand and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in November. Sarfaraz Khan, who made an impressive Test debut against England earlier this year, will be the captain of Mumbai.
SKY’s chances of being all-format player
While Suryakumar Yadav has played only one Test in his career so far, he has expressed interest in being an all-format player. The swashbuckling batter has 5628 runs in 82 first-class games so far, making him a veteran in red-ball cricket. However, the T20I captain is out of consideration for Tests at the moment and is unlikely to make it the side anytime soon.
Latest news
Shreyas Iyer aims to regain spot
Shreyas Iyer last featured in a Test in the 2nd IND vs ENG match earlier this year. Since then he has been subjected to ups and downs which include a BCCI Contract snub, winning an IPL trophy, being left out of the T20 World Cup squad and making his comeback in the series against Sri Lanka. He will now aim to regain his spot in India’s Test XI in the IND vs BAN series.
What are Sarfaraz Khan’s chances?
Sarfaraz Khan made the most of his debut series, scoring 200 runs including three half-centuries in five innings. The absence of Virat Kohli and others paved way for Sarfaraz to make his much-awaited debut along with others including Dhruv Jurel, Rajat Patidar and others.
The return of KL Rahul to the side means that it will be tough for all three – Iyer, Khan and Yadav – to secure a space in the XI. While Iyer and Yadav can manage to find a way into the squad, there are very little chances of them featuring in the XI unless the coach and captain decide to take an alternate approach over the team combination.
