Apart from Rohit Sharma, Iyer was the only senior India batter to not register a significant score in the first two Tests – he made 35 and 13 in Hyderabad, and 27 and 29 in Visakhapatnam. Considered one of India’s best batters against spin, Iyer, however, struggled both in his defence and in his strokeplay.
The third Test starts on February 15 in Rajkot, before the teams move to Ranchi for the fourth from February 23. The fifth and final Test will be played in Dharamsala from March 7.
Squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul*, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep
(*subject to medical clearance)