Shreyas Iyer of India in motion in the course of the second day of the second Test match between South Africa and India in Cape Town.
| Photo Credit: AP
Even earlier than Bhupen Lalwani and Suved Parkar had crossed boundary line after lunch was referred to as on Day One of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy tie in opposition to Andhra, Shreyas Iyer – the subsequent batter in Mumbai’s order – had taken guard on the observe nets on the sidelines.
While batting coach Vinit Indulkar and a side-arm specialist hurled brief balls at him, Atharva Ankolekar bowled left-arm spin to Shreyas who batted flawlessly for nearly half an hour earlier than returning to the dressing room.
Having returned from South Africa earlier within the week and omitted from the T20I squad for India’s ongoing collection in opposition to Afghanistan, Shreyas had skipped the group’s closing pre-match coaching session on Thursday.
The brief session seemed to be a routine to get a really feel of the situations. Half an hour after resumption, Shreyas took guard once more — this time the place it mattered — after opener Lalwani had perished.
The subsequent eighty-four minutes noticed Shreyas dealing with a constant bowling assault with none fuss.
No shock
It didn’t come as a shock that quickly after he had received his eye in – and Parkar at his affected person finest on the different finish – Andhra employed the short-ball ploy. With a six-three area on the on-side, Andhra pacers most well-liked the short-ball ploy to Shreyas.
While he had confronted the side-armers over the wicket, for many of his innings, the Andhra pacers, particularly Nitish Kumar Reddy, most well-liked bowling across the wicket to him. Captain Ricky Bhui and senior professional Hanuma Vihari did their finest to unsettle Shreyas by using revolutionary fielding positions.
But Shreyas was affected person. He left the ball effectively and compelled debutant P.V.S.N. Raju into errors. It displayed in his fluent on-drive and a pull. Very quickly, a crowd had gathered on the terrace of a company constructing throughout the highway to get pleasure from Shreyas’ batting.There have been no loud cheers however Shreyas was coming into his ingredient nonetheless. The spotlight of his knock was the 54th over of the innings that noticed Shreyas enjoying two sterling pulls and a crisp cover-drive to the fence to enter the 40’s.
Three overs therefore, simply when Shreyas had crossed the run-a-ball mark and 6 minutes remaining for the tea break, Shreyas fell prey to Nitish bowling across the wicket and large of off-stump. He chased a large one and the sting rested in wicketkeeper U.M.S. Girinath’s gloves.
“We actually planned the bouncers for Shreyas, but since we were conceding too many runs, that’s when we came to the normal plan and we bowled full. And it worked,” Nitish would reveal after the day’s play.
The crowd from the terrace throughout the highway quickly disappeared and Shreyas’ return to Ranji Trophy after 5 years remained with out him celebrating a landmark.
