Three years ago, Shreyas Iyer made a really impressive Test debut against New Zealand in Kanpur. The batter scored a century in the first innings and added another 65 runs in the second innings to help the Men in Blue in posting the target of 284 for the Kiwis.
However, he hasn’t been able to find any sort of consistency in the format ever since. His numbers not only deteriorated in overseas conditions but also at home soil. Iyer only scored 146 runs in 8 innings in the last 2 years in India.
After getting dropped from the Test team and getting denied of a central contract by the BCCI, Duleep Trophy did offer Iyer a shot at redemption with the Bangladesh Test series coming up. However, Iyer, who was chosen as the captain of the India D side managed just 104 runs in 4 innings, which also included dismissal for a duck.
Speaking to The Telegraph, a BCCI official, issued a harsh verdict on Iyer as he crushed his hopes of making it back to the Indian Test team.
“At the moment, there’s no room for Shreyas to be in the Test team. Who will he replace? Besides, his shot selection has been a concern in Duleep, especially yesterday (Sunday). He was well set and then suddenly played such a shot (off left-arm spinner Shams Mulani). When you are set and then batting on a flat deck, you need to make the best use of that opportunity,” the BCCI official said.
Iyer still has an opportunity to make up for his low scores in the third and final round of the Duleep Trophy. This will be followed by the Irani Cup where he is likely to play for the Mumbai side and that will be followed by the 2024/25 Ranji Trophy. However, another BCCI official told the national daily that even if the 29-year-old bounces back to form, he is unlikely to be part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad.
“Shreyas could be there (in the Mumbai squad) for the Irani Cup (beginning on October 1 in Lucknow). Even if he’s picked for the Bangladesh T20Is (from October 6), he still might play Irani and then be available from the second T20I onwards,” the other BCCI official said.
“Now, if he doesn’t fire in Irani too, he still has the Ranji Trophy to get runs. It wasn’t too many days ago when he was batting so well in last year’s ODI World Cup. He suffered an injury too, which needs to be considered,” he added.
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