India head coach Gautam Gambhir has rubbished speculation that Shreyas Iyer was being side-lined from the ODI set-up despite his brilliant form, saying that the consistent right-hander was always in the “scheme of things” and will be an important player in this month’s Champions Trophy.

Counter-attacking knock

Iyer displayed excellent form during the just-concluded 3-0 ODI series sweep against England, hitting a counter-attacking 36-ball 59 in the opener when India were 19-2 chasing 249 in Nagpur, and scoring 44 and 78 in the next two games.