Ranji Trophy: Mumbai's Shreyas Iyer departs early after returning to domestic cricket

Shreyas Iyer (Pic: File Pic)

Shreyas Iyer who made a return in domestic cricket was dismissed for just three runs in the semifinals of Ranji Trophy against Tamil Nadu on Sunday.

Shreyas Iyer was excluded from the Board of Control for Cricket in India's central contract for 2024 due to ignorance of the board's diktat of playing domestic cricket.

After featuring in the semifinals for Mumbai, he managed to score just three runs in eight deliveries. He was clean-bowled by Tamil Nadu's pacer Sandeep Warrier.

Also Read: IN PHOTOS | Team India's sheer dominance in world cricket

He played crucial knocks for India during the global showpiece last year. Iyer accumulated 530 runs in just 11 matches at an average of 66.25. He also had two centuries and three half-centuries registered to his name.

During the tournament, Iyer created history by becoming the first-ever middle-order batsman to score 500-plus runs in a single World Cup edition. He also smashed the fastest century in World Cup knockouts against New Zealand in just 70 balls.

Also Read: IN PHOTOS | WPL 2024: Amelia Kerr's all-round performance guides MI to third win

After some white-ball cricket against South Africa and Australia following the tournament, Iyer's focus shifted to Tests, but his returns diminished drastically. after a fine start to his Test career. In his last seven Tests and 12 innings, he has scored just 187 runs at an average of 17.00, with the best score of 35. He delivered underwhelming performances during the tour to South Africa and in the home series against England.

Iyer was then omitted from India's squad for the next three Tests against England but did not feature in any red-ball cricket, consequently losing his central contract, especially with BCCI being strict against players missing out on domestic cricket and favouring the Indian Premier League (IPL). Notably, he had earlier featured in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy game against Andhra Pradesh ahead of the England series, scoring 48 runs.

Coming to the Ranji Trophy match, Tamil Nadu won the toss and opted to bat first, but was bundled out for 146 runs, with Vijay Shankar (44) and Washington Sundar (43) scoring the bulk of runs after Tushar Deshpande (3/24), Tanush Kotian (2/10) and Shardul Thakur (2/48) ran through the team's batting.

Mumbai is currently struggling against Tamil Nadu's sharp bowling.

(With ANI Inputs)