Shreyas Iyer makes strong statement with double ton

Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer after his double ton. Pic/Atul Kamble

Out of favour Test batsman Shreyas Iyer did just what is needed to send out a reminder that he can score big daddy hundreds. On Day Two of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘A' match on Thursday, Mumbai's Iyer smashed 233 off 228 balls (24x4, 9x6) against Odisha at the Mumbai Cricket Association-Bandra Kurla Complex ground.
Mumbai piled up a mammoth 602-4 declared to which in Odisha responded by scoring 146-5 at stumps.

One-drop Siddhesh Lad, stayed unbeaten on 169, batting for over nine hours. It was Iyer's second successive first-class century after scoring 142 against Maharashtra at the same ground last month.

Lad, who resumed his innings on 116, hit his first four of the day after facing 47 balls when, Iyer had already hit four sixes and three fours. Iyer's two effortless sixes over the cover fence off pacer Sunil Roul (0-125) were just a treat to watch.

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The right-handed Test batsman began his innings on 152, cautiously defending the first five balls of the day's very first over bowled by pacer Debabrata Pradhan (0-85). He got his first runs with a huge six over the point boundary to finish the over. He reached 200 after facing just 37 balls on Thursday morning. Iyer's double century came with a classic well-timed straight driven four off pacer Debabrata.

Iyer and Lad, who shared a 231-run unbeaten stand for the fourth wicket on Wednesday, continued their dominance to register Mumbai's highest fourth wicket partnership of 354 runs on Thursday. Current India Test captain Rohit Sharma was involved in Mumbai's previous best fourth wicket stand when he and Sushant Marathe scored 342 against Gujarat at the Cricket Club of India in 2009-10.

The visitors enjoyed some relief around 30 minutes before lunch, when left-arm spinner Harshit Rathod (1-136) succeeded in getting Iyer stumped through wicketkeeper Aasirwad Swain to break the partnership.

"It feels amazing. Shreyas is back in form. We expect a lot from him. We all know about his talent. It's good for Mumbai and him that he's knocking on the door of the Indian team again," said Lad.

Brief scores
Mumbai 602-4d (S Iyer 233, S Lad 169', A Raghuvanshi 92, S Shedge 79'; B Samantray 2-57) v Odisha 146-5 (S Pattnaik 73', A Sarangi 39; H Singh 2-22, S Mulani 2-52)