Shreyas Iyer ends horrible slide with sparkling century after 3 years, puts his name in contention for Australia tour

Shreyas Iyer, who currently finds himself out-of-favour, when it comes to the Indian Test team, has scored his first First-Class hundred in three years. The right-handed batter brought up his ton during the Ranji Trophy second-round match between Mumbai and Maharashtra on Saturday. Shreyas walked out to bat at No.5 for Mumbai, after the loss of skipper Ajinkya Rahane. Shreyas Iyer brought up his century off just 131 balls, with the help of nine fours and three sixes. Shreyas Iyer will hope to find form in red-ball cricket when he takes guard for Mumbai in Irani Cup. (PTI)(HT_PRINT)

Shreyas Iyer helped Mumbai go past Maharashtra's first-innings score alongside opener Ayush Mhatre. The duo formed a 200-run partnership on Day 2. Mhatre was dismissed for 176, but Shreyas managed to hold the fort.

During this knock, Shreyas Iyer also went past 6,000 First-Class runs. Now, it needs to be seen whether this knock brings Shreyas back into contention for the series against Australia, which is set to begin at Perth on November 22, 2024. However, Shreyas is fighting it out along with KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel, for a spot in the middle order.

This ton now marks an end to a long century drought for Shreyas Iyer. The right-handed batter has been out of Team India squad when it comes to the longest format. He has not been a part of the team since India's home Test series win against England in early 2024.

Shreyas Iyer's last First-Class hundred came in India colours in November 2021 against New Zealand in Kanpur.

Shreyas Iyer's poor string of scores in domestic cricket

Off late, Shreyas Iyer has been registering a poor string of scores. In Duleep Trophy, Shreyas only registered 154 runs in six innings, with two fifties. However, he also scored two ducks.

In the Irani Cup match for Mumbai, Shreyas Iyer scored 57 and 8 across two innings. The batter then registered another duck in the opening round of the Ranji Trophy in Baroda.

Earlier this year, Shreyas Iyer along with Ishan Kishan, were excluded from the BCCI Central Contracts list after the duo were deemed to have skipped domestic matches.

Shreyas Iyer had then cited back and groin pain for missing domestic cricket, but the BCCI's Medical Team, which is headed by Nitin Patel, found no issues with his fitness, as per the Indian Express.

For the unversed, Nitin Patel is the head of sports science at the National Cricket Academy.

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