Shreyas Iyer scored his third First Class double hundred at MCA’s Bandra Kurla Complex Ground on Thursday to put Mumbai in complete control of the Group A Ranji Trophy match against Odisha. Mumbai declared their first innings at 602/4 and reduced Odisha to 146/5 on the second day.
Iyer who has been out of favour in the Indian team and was not retained by his IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders despite lifting the title in the last edition as skipper, scored more than run a ball 233.
He shared 354 runs partnership for the fourth wicket with Siddhesh Lad (169*) in 73.2 overs. He slammed nine sixes and 24 fours in his 228-ball knock ahead of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). Though India has already announced the squad for the Australia series, this knock will keep Iyer in the selector’s mind for a replacement in case of injuries. Also, a few batters in the squad are struggling with form. Incidentally, Iyer’s last First Class double hundred (202*) was against a visiting Australia team ahead of the 2017-18 BGT in Mumbai.
The stylish middle-order batsman had earlier scored a big ton (142) at the same venue against Maharashtra. Iyer’s previous Ranji Trophy double century came in his second season for Mumbai (October 2015). This knock is also timely ahead of the TATA IPL 2025 Player Auction, which will be held over two days on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He has already been associated with interest from his previous franchise Delhi Capitals and Ricky Ponting coached Punjab Kings.
After Iyer's dismissal, Suryansh Shegde came to batting and went after the bowlers from the outset. Lad witnessed brilliant attacking batting as Shegde brought up his half-century in 23 balls with a boundary. Much to the relief of the Odisha bowlers who were toiling under heat and humid conditions Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane declared the first innings after 123.5 overs, immediately after lunch.
Lad made an unbeaten 169 in 337 balls with 17 boundaries. Angkrish Raghuvanshi had made 92 on the first day. After Iyer and Lad took Mumbai beyond 500, Shegde came to the middle and took full advantage of the situation by striking an unbeaten 79 in 36 balls, laced with seven boundaries and six big sixes. Shegde’s brisk knock will also have rolled some heads in the IPL franchises ahead of the auction.
Mumbai got an immediate breakthrough from Swastik Samal (0) when he lost the patience to go for an extravagant pull shot and just managed and inside edge to the stumps to ignite celebrations from Mumbai tearaway bowler Shardul Thakur. The former India medium pacer could have Sandeep Pattnaik also soon but Himanshu Singh failed to time his jump well to miss a tough chance at short mid-wicket.
Pattnaik and Anurag Sarangi frustrated Mumbai bowlers with a 107-run second-wicket partnership before Himanshu made amends by scalping Sarangi (39), post-tea. It resulted in a mini collapse as skipper Govinda Poddar and Biplap Samantray were out without scoring. However, Sarangi kept going in the company of Kartik Biswal (22) before the latter was castled by Shams Mulani to leave Odisha a mountain to climb with still 456 runs arrears in the first innings and half the side back in the hut. Pattnaik was unbeaten on 73.
