When India's 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup 2022 was released by the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee, four players were named to the standby list: Mohammad Shami, Deepak Chahar, Shreya Iyer, and Ravi Bishnoi.
While Shami arrived in Australia on Wednesday (October 12), Chahar has allegedly been ruled out of the marquee event due to a stiff back.
Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj, in addition to Shami, flew to Australia as fast-bowling possibilities after Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament.
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Shreyas and Bishnoi, on the other hand, have been asked to stay back in India and play for their respective domestic teams in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 event.
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Notably, Iyer was in excellent form in the just finished three-match ODI series against South Africa, scoring 50, 113*, and 28*.
"Shreyas has been told that Deepak Hooda is fit, so he would only be called if any specialist batter gets injured. He has been asked to play Mushtaq Ali trophy and remain ready," a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying by PTI.
Shreyas will now represent Mumbai in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali. The report also adds that Ravi Bishnoi will also stay back in India to participate in the domestic tournament. The leg-spinner will play for Rajasthan but India might need him in case of injury to their spinners.
Shreyas Iyer was in contention for a spot in India's T20 World Cup squad earlier this year, but Suryakumar Yadav's sensational exploits and Deepak Hooda's impressive all-round performance drove him down the pecking order, and he was only considered for the standby list.
Iyer has played 47 T20Is for India, scoring 1030 runs with a strike rate of 136.06 at an average of 32.18.
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