Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir feels that Suryakumar Yadav has the variety to play for India in the T20 World Cup which Shreyas Iyer may not have.
Yadav is part of India's 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Iyer, on the other hand, is part of the three standbys alongside Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur.
"Suryakumar Yadav is a completely different class as compared to Shreyas Iyer. He is much more versatile. He is much more unorthodox as well and in T20 cricket you want people who are unorthodox," Gambhir was quoted as saying by Star Sports.
"He can lap you, he can late cut you, he can hit you over extra cover; he's got all the shots, especially at No.4, because sometimes No.4 is the most tricky position to bat in T20 cricket, probably the easiest is the top three, but No.4, because you might be in when you have lost two early wickets and you still want to continue the momentum.
"Sometimes you come into the middle, when you have got what... 130 for 2, and you have got to continue with the momentum. So, Surya's got both kinds of change, which probably Shreyas Iyer doesn't have," the cricketer-turned-politician said.
Gambhir further said that apart from Yadav's versatility, one cannot be sure how well Iyer would be able to adapt considering he is coming back from a long layoff due to injury.
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"And again, you have to be mindful that he is coming after a serious injury and you never know what kind of a form he would be in the second leg of IPL as well. So, they've gone with someone, who has done really well, since he has gone into international cricket," the former India opener added.