India's head coach, Gautam Gambhir, hopes Shreyas Iyer continues his good form at the ICC Champions Trophy and sees him as an important component of the team's ODI setup.

Iyer's post-match comment following the first ODI against England created controversy when he stated that his place in the team was only possible because Virat Kohli was out due to a knee injury.

It sparked conjecture that Iyer could be dropped for the final two ODIs to make room for Kohli. Nonetheless, he remained in the playing XI and performed excellently.

India defeated England 3-0, with Iyer regularly providing the goods. He hit an aggressive 59 off 36 balls in India's opening encounter at Nagpur, when they were 19 for 2 and chasing 249. He maintained his fine form by scoring 44 and 78 in the next two contests.

"He wasn't supposed to be benched throughout the series. We wanted to give Yashasvi (Jaiswal) a go in the first game and see what he could bring to the table because he was in really good form in Australia.

I know that you can't judge someone (Jaiswal) by one innings. But we always knew that Shreyas was going to be an important player for us. Sometimes, when you've only got three games, you want to try and rotate your squad as well,” Gambhir said after the third ODI in Ahmedabad.

India’s next assignment will be the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and the Men in Blue will play all of their matches in Dubai. India open their campaign with their first match in Group A against Bangladesh on February 20.

"When you've got the Champions Trophy around the corner, you want to try and maximize these three games and try and give everyone an opportunity. But Shreyas was always in the scheme of things (and it is) good that he played all the three games," Gambhir concluded.

(PTI inputs)