Is Shreyas Iyer playing today's IND vs ENG 2025 2nd ODI? 

Team India batter Shreyas Iyer retained his place in the playing XI for the second ODI against England at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday, February 9.

The right-handed batter played a huge role in Team India's win over England in the first ODI in Nagpur. He recorded a counter-attacking fifty while negotiating a tricky period during the run chase. However, in a post-match interaction with the broadcasters, he dropped a bombshell by revealing that he was not considered in the playing XI until Virat Kohli's late injury on the eve of the contest.

It was assumed that debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal had come in for Kohli, with Iyer being India's first-choice candidate for No.4, that too with success under his belt. But that was surprisingly not the case.

However, the brilliant fifty helps Iyer to continue to feature in the playing XI as Yashasvi Jaiswal makes way for the returning Virat Kohli. Team India skipper Rohit Sharma hailed Iyer's contribution in the series opener and confirmed his presence in the team amid the changes.

"We bowled well and batted well in the last game. We've got to carry the energy forward from the last game into this one. Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill took the game head-on after a bit of a stutter, it was great to watch. One cannot forget the contribution of Axar Patel too. Not sure how much the pace will be on this wicket, let's see. Virat Kohli comes in for Yashasvi Jaiswal and Varun Chakravarthy makes his debut in place of Kuldeep Yadav," Rohit Sharma said at the toss after England opted to bat first yet again.

Team India have an opportunity to seal the series with a win in the upcoming match. A win will hand them an unassailable lead in the three-match affair, with the last contest of the tour scheduled for Wednesday, February 12 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

"I wasn't supposed to play the first game" - Shreyas Iyer after his heroics in Nagpur

Shreyas Iyer scored a 36-ball 59 after coming in to bat at 19-2 during the run chase. He had to deal with an early short-ball barrage by Jofra Archer and was involved in a game-changing partnership with Shubman Gill.

"I wasn't supposed to play the first game. As we all know, Virat unfortunately got injured and then I got the opportunity. But I had kept myself prepared. I knew that, you know, at any point in time, I could get a chance to play. And the same thing happened to me last year during the Asia Cup. I got injured, and someone else came, and he scored a century," Iyer told the broadcasters after the 1st ODI (via Hindustan Times)

Shreyas Iyer comes into the series as one of the few players with credible white-ball experience of late. He played for Mumbai in both the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy while India were embroiled in red-ball cricket.