Rajkot: Shreyas Iyer on Thursday said the current competition in the Indian team demands one to bat at any number after he did not get to play at his usual number four spot in the first ODI against Australia.
Iyer returned to India’s limited-overs set-up following the 2019 World Cup and has done well at number four. However, he was pushed down to number five on Tuesday as skipper Virat Kohli himself came at four to accommodate specialist openers K L Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan in the playing eleven.
The move failed badly as India lost the game by 10 wickets. “In this situation, you should be ready to bat at any number because it is really important to play in the team, (considering) the competition which we have now right now,” 25-year-old Iyer told reporters ahead of the second ODI here. In the last game, skipper Virat Kohli dropped himself down to number four and Iyer walked in at five.
The stylish batsman also said that the team is looking forward to more experimentation. “We can’t give any reasons of batting at any particular number. Yes it is really important for us to be focused and not to cry about why we haven’t been batting at a similar position. Experimentation is something we are looking forward to. Hopefully, we will get a good number for each batsman. “This is the time we should try and experiment things and hopefully it will work-out in the future,” added the Mumbaikar.