Ranji Trophy 2024: Shreyas Iyer Ends Lean Patch By Scoring Brilliant First Class Century After Three Years For Mumbai

Ranji Trophy 2024: Shreyas Iyer, who hasn't played for India in the longest format, scored a brilliant first-class hundred for the first time in three years in the second round of the ongoing domestic tournament on Saturday. Iyer came into bat at No.5 position after skipper Ajinkya Rahane's early dismissal. Along with youngster Ayush Mhatre, Iyer helped the team bounce back and took the team's total beyond the first inning's total and also stitched a 200-run partnership with Mhatre on the second day. This partnership helped the team go past the 300-run mark and thus set the foundation of their innings.

Mhatre got out after scoring a brilliant knock of 176 runs and then Iyer scored his century off 131 balls, where he had smashed nine fours and three sixes. This ended his long century drought, he hasn't played for the Test squad since February this year. He last scored a century in this format against New Zealand in November 2021 in Kanpur. With this knock, Iyer also achieved the feat of scoring 6000 first-class runs.

Iyer makes a comeback

This hundred is a huge boost for Iyer, who has seen struggling with form since the beginning of the domestic season. He scored just 154 runs in the Duleep Trophy in six innings, which includes two fifties and as many ducks. While representing Mumbai in the Irani Cup, he had a forgetful outing as he scored 67 and eight runs in both innings. He was once again dismissed for a duck in the Ranji Trophy tournament opener against Baroda.

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Iyer along with Ishan Kishan were released from the BCCI central contract list in February this year. They were dropped after they ignored playing in domestic matches. Iyer revealed that he was suffering from back and groin pain and that's why he gave the Ranji Trophy matches a miss.

Iyer scoring a century in the ongoing domestic tournament is a huge boost as he aims to make a comeback to the national side.