Shreyas Iyer last played a Test for India during the home series against England in February 2024.
Shreyas Iyer had an amazing start to his Test career when he scored a century on his debut against New Zealand. However, Test cricket exposed flaws in Iyer’s batting like no other format has.
His dislike for short-pitched deliveries was exposed early in his international career, and he struggled to establish himself as an overseas Test specialist. His struggle was heightened by the fact that his numbers deteriorated even at home, with only 146 runs in eight innings in India over the last two years.
He was dropped from the Indian Test team earlier this year and was also left out of the BCCI central contracts as well.
However, Shreyas Iyer is putting hard yards in the domestic circuit to reclaim his place in the Indian Test squad.
After slamming a century (142) in Mumbai’s ongoing Ranji Trophy match against Maharashtra, the right-hander expressed his wish to make a comeback to the Test side.
“It feels special, coming back after a very long time. Obviously, I was feeling a bit down with my injuries, but now, getting a century after a very long time, it’s a great feeling overall,” Iyer told reporters at the end of day’s play.
“I am absolutely keen for a comeback, but as we say, control the controllables, and my job is to keep performing, and keep participating as much as possible and also see to it that my body is in best shape.”
Although Iyer participated in the ODI series against Sri Lanka in August, he emphasised his strong desire to play red-ball cricket.
“Absolutely (the drive is still to play Tests). That’s why I’ve been playing. I mean, or else I would have given a reason and sat out.”
In the last five first-class fixtures, including in the Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy and Ranji Trophy, Shreyas Iyer has scored three fifties and a 40 in 10 innings.
When asked about not finding a spot in the Test side, Iyer said, “I had addressed my feeling during the longer format and things didn’t go my way. But I’m in good space right now. I’m doing what I’m meant to do.
“All the matches I’ve played right now in the past have helped me gain that fitness level as well, along with my training program. This is my seventh match on the trot and the body has taken a lot of load at the same time. So, we have to manage here and there and see to it that I strategise in terms of how I play.
“I have to be smart in terms of what decisions I take. I need to see to it that my body is in best shape possible and I have to decide according to that. I have to listen to my body because I know the amount of threshold I’ve carried over the last few years and, based on that, I’ll be taking the right decision, and I hope that my team will also back (me).”
Iyer made a comeback in the Asia Cup last year after recovering from a back injury and went on to feature in the ODI World Cup in October-November.
Asked if he fears the injury could come back, Iyer said: “The surgery was last year, and after that I played the World Cup, Asia Cup, and many more matches. There was this phase where I was feeling that it might occur again, but I trained a lot to see to it that I have optimum fitness. And, obviously, it comes here and there, but now my capacity has improved a lot.”
Commenting on his training post the back surgery, Iyer said: “I improved my long-distance running. Increased my patience as well in terms of the longer format. I did intensive training like, I was stressing up my body, pushing my body 400-800 metres of running. I was trying to push my limits, and seeing to it that I was at the best fitness possible.”
(With PTI Inputs)