Shreyas Iyer likely to replace Virat Kohli for Afghanistan Test match

Indian captain Virat Kohli's maiden county stint for Surrey has thrown open a vacant position in the Indian Test squad and if reports are to be believed, young Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer might be roped in to fill the void.

The vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane, will take over the mantle as the Indian skipper, while Rohit Sharma will be in-charge of the T20I series against Ireland. Kohli will then assume leadership of the team for the England-leg.

The Indian selectors will convene a meeting to pick the Test side and if reports filtering out of the BCCI are to be believed, barring Virat Kohli, all the Test regulars will be available for selection.

The other players who are currently plying their trade in County cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma will come back from England after the match between Yorkshire and Surrey.

Also, the selectors have indicated that they have like-for-like replacements ready for different players and they are also looking at Vijay Shankar as a replacement for Hardik Pandya.

It has to be mentioned here that back in 2017, Shreyas Iyer was named as a replacement for Virat Kohli when was injured for the Dharamsala Test match against the Australians. Ajinkya Rahane stepped in as the captain as India completed a series win.

Shreyas Iyer is currently leading the Delhi Daredevils in the ongoing IPL and has been in good form for his team. He was given the job after Gautam Gambhir stepped down from captaincy on the back of numerous losses for the franchise.

In 10 matches this season, Iyer has scored 351 runs at an average of 50.14 and with a strike rate of 149.36.

He has also been a consistent performer for Mumbai in the domestic circuit and hence the selectors should be lauded for being consistent in their selection across different formats.