Middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer acknowledges fight for Test spot, gears up for England series with productive Ranji outing for Mumbai
Post Mumbai’s comfortable win over Andhra on Monday, Shreyas Iyer spent around two hours in the nets to continue his preparation for the England Test series.
During the time he spent in the middle-on the same BKC pitch where the match was played-he mostly faced Mumbai spinners Tanush Kotian, an off-spinner who is an established member of the team, Atharva Ankolekar, a left-arm spinner who made his First-Class debut in the last match against Bihar, and throwdown specialists.
The idea to practice on a used wicket was in the anticipation of encountering turning conditions in the five-match series against the Three Lions which starts with the first Test in Hyderabad on January 25.
This will be a crucial series for Iyer considering that in the last two series he has played- against Australia at home in February-March 2023 and the recently concluded South Africa one-his figures, like most others, due to the tricky nature of the pitches, haven’t been great.
In the two Tests he played in the Australia series his scores were 4, 12, 0, 26 while in the South Africa series he had made 31, 6, 0, 4*.
When asked about his expectation for the England series, Iyer said: “It’s important to take it one match at a time, not think about it as a five-match Test series. The team is only for the first two games. The motto would be to perform in the first two games and then look forward to the rest of the games,” Iyer said.
With KL Rahul expected to keep away his gloves and play as a specialist batter, there might be a toss-up between him and Iyer for the No. 5.
Quizzed about competition for places, Iyer said that “he thrives on competition” and it doesn’t bother him. “It’s fun. I love competition. When competition is there, you face more challenges. And that’s what I thrive on personally. So, I enjoy having competition around because then you can go at each other and against the opponents to show your talent,” he said.
Just before he hit the nets at BKC, the 29-year-old said that he used the Mumbai match to test his fitness. “It wasn’t a turning track. I’m assuming that we would be getting turning wickets against England. But other than that, it was just for my match fitness, to stay on the field as long as possible. That’s what mainly I was focusing on because especially after my injury it has been tough for me to stick on the field for long,” said Iyer.
Iyer scored 48 from as many balls and during the short but entertaining innings, he played some delightful shots. Talking about his batting, he said that “I’m going to play attacking irrespective of the situation.”
Disappointed at being left out of the T20I squad against Afghanistan, Iyer said: “See, right now I’m being in the present. I’ve finished the match which I was asked to play. I came and I executed, so I’m happy with what I’m doing.”