Shreyas Iyer played a key role with the bat in India’s four-wicket victory over England in the first ODI at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur on Thursday (February 6).

Chasing 249 to win, the hosts were struggling at 19/2 when Shreyas came to the crease. The middle-order batter added 94 runs for the third wicket with Shubman Gill to bail India out of trouble.

While Shreyas fell after scoring 59 off 36 balls, Gill (87 off 96) and Axar Patel (52 off 47) slammed decisive half-centuries to seal the deal.

After scripting the win, Shreyas Iyer made a shocking revelation, saying that he wouldn't have played the series opener had it not been for Virat Kohli's knee injury.

However, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh reckons that divine intervention was at play as Shreyas produced a match-winning knock under pressure.

"The team management has selected him in the squad but they had to decide whether they want to go with him or Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top. I think the team is currently trusting Yashasvi more. Maybe the management is looking to have a right-left combination up top. This is how the team went. But I think if the management wanted not to play Shreyas, then the only reason was to have Yashasvi Jaiswal up top," Harbhajan told Hindustan Times on the sidelines of ILT20 in Sharjah.

"Shreyas is a proven performer. He scored a lot of runs in the World Cup. When a player scores so many runs, he thinks he would get opportunities. He is the best in his eye and hence, even God felt the same. He got what no one else thought and what someone else thought for Shreyas, that didn't happen. The player whom you were thinking about dropping, he played such an innings, he made it one-sided game. The 50 runs he scored, changed the complexion of the game," he added.

The Indian team management opted for KL Rahul as the wicketkeeper-batter in the first ODI. Harbhajan backed the decision, citing that Rishabh Pant will get his opportunity later.

"Rishabh Pant is a very good player but the way the management is thinking right now, it seems like KL Rahul is being preferred as a wicketkeeper-batter option. So now Rishabh Pant will have to wait for his opportunity to come. Dhruv Jurel, Sanju Samson are also in the line. I just hope that the team which is selected right now, performs well. I hope KL Rahul performs well. As far as Rishabh Pant, he will eventually be there in the lineup, be it today or tomorrow," Harbhajan remarked.

Although Arshdeep Singh did not feature in the Nagpur ODI, Harbhajan believes that having a left-arm pacer in the playing XI is always a valuable option.

"I had said it earlier as well, Arshdeep Singh is a diamond. He is an excellent bowler. He can come into the game at any stage. He took 17-18 wickets in the T20 World Cup. Having a left-arm seamer in the squad is very good. That way you get a different bowler, he has all the skills in the world to be an excellent bowler for India," Harbhajan stated.