Shreyas Iyer misses Ranji Trophy final hundred vs Vidarbha by five runs, Ajinkya Rahane also shines

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Shreyas Iyer on Tuesday, March 12 missed a Ranji Trophy final hundred against Vidarbha by five runs at the Wankhede Stadium. Iyer was under pressure for his red ball form. He was also dropped from the BCCI central contracts list for the 2023-24 season.

Shreyas Iyer was dismissed for seven by Umesh Yadav in the first innings. He scored three runs in the only innings of Mumbai's quarter final match against Tamil Nadu. Iyer was dropped after featuring in the first two Tests of the 5-match series against England which saw him score 35, 13, 27 and 29 runs.

Shreyas Iyer scored 95 off 111 runs. The innings consisted of 10 fours and three sixes. He got out while trying to clear the long-on boundary on a delivery pitched full on off-stump. He lost the grip on his bat as the ball hit the toe end and was caught by Aman Mokhade at long-off.

Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane also shined with 73 in the second innings. The veteran batter has earlier registered three ducks in the series. He has also got out for single-digit scores four times, and his top score this season has been unbeaten 56 against Chhattisgarh.

Shardul Thakur, who rescued Mumbai with 75 after they were six down for 111 in the first innings, had backed the duo after their first innings failures.

"Right now, it's not their time; it's time to support them rather than criticising them because it's easy to criticise," Shardul had said.

"Ajinkya has not scored runs but his attitude on the fielding is top notch," Thakur said. "A lot of youngsters coming from Under-23 and Under-19 cricket in Mumbai don't have the attitude that he has. You see him in the slips, even if he is fielded for 80 overs, he will sprint [to] save four runs.

"Shreyas moves around the field like a tiger. He absolutely gives everything that he has on the field. Both of them are role models when they are in the dressing room," he added.

Mumbai have put themselves in a strong position after their prolific batting performance in the second innings. Musheer Khan, the brother of Sarfaraz Khan, also scored a second innings hundred for Mumbai while batting at three. At the time this article was published, Musheer was batting on unbeaten 135 runs off 318 balls, and Mumbai were leading with 460 runs.