Former opening batter Gautam Gambhir is considered as front-runner for the India head coach job. If the deal does go through, this could be a game changer for KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer, who faced a number of setbacks in recent months with the Indian team.

After an all-time great campaign in the ICC Cricket World Cup last year, Iyer struggled with recurring back injury and then lost his BCCI central contract. He was not considered for selection in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad as well.

According to a PTI report, Shreyas has a chance for a comeback in the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, starting on July 5. However, the 50-over series against Sri Lanka in July-August seems like a more realistic opportunity for him.

"Shreyas is currently not at NCA. Here mostly those players are there, who have performed in the IPL and will be in contention for Zimbabwe selection.

"Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana, Nitish Reddy, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Dayal are all at the camp. Some will go to Zimbabwe T20Is," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

"However, there is every possibility that Shreyas will travel for the three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka. The last ODI that India played was in South Africa and he scored a half-century (52). He had 500 plus runs (530) in World Cup and averages just around 50. Can you drop him?" he added.

It is learnt that star batters like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, along with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, will now focus on ODIs and Tests for the remainder of the season.

There will be many new faces in the T20Is, including IPL stars. India’s travelling reserves at the T20 World Cup 2024 - Rinku Singh, Shubman Gill, Avesh Khan, and Khaleel Ahmed - are likely to travel to Zimbabwe as well.

If not rested, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are likely to be named captain and vice-captain for the Zimbabwe tour. Both have been on the road since the start of the IPL 2024.

(With PTI Inputs)