Shreyas Iyer hasn't played a Test in one-and-a-half years. Now, set to lead the A team agains the touring Australians, he might have found an edge over other contenders.
A lot has happened in Shreyas Iyer’s careersince he last played a Test. A Champions Trophy medal, an IPL gold and silver, an ICC Player of the Month award have constituted the highs. His Asia Cup exclusion generated plenty of buzz: for some, keeping Iyer out indicated an underlying bias. Soon after, came reports of a possible ODI captaincy push.
Even when not playing, he continues to be in the news.
The low point had come with Iyer’s much-talked about central contract snub. Seemingly defying a BCCI directive, he sat out of the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy quarter-final. Since then, he’s gone on to explain the injury in harrowing detail.
It was also the same month Iyer played the last of his 14 Tests so far. He played two Tests in that England series, even getting two chances at four in the absence of Virat Kohli. But the numbers weren’t as impressive as the start of his career had promised. Between December 2022 and February 2024, Iyer batted 13 times, not crossing 35 once.
Over the next few months, it appeared that Iyer was falling behind in the Test race. In the one-and-a-half months since his last Test, a total of 16 players have batted between positions four and six for India. Thirteen, if you remove the two nightwatch.
Plenty of choices, but does India have clarity?
A direct challenge for Iyer came in Sarfaraz Khan. Starting with back-to-back fifties against England in the Rajkot Test, adding another in Dharamsala. Months later in Bengaluru, against New Zealand, Sarfaraz’s 150 turned heads: in the same Test, India had folded for 46 in one of their worst home collapses ever. He looked set for the long haul, but was dropped right after, not getting a seat on the plane to Australia or England.
There were other significant changes too. Rishabh Pant returned to retain his wicketkeeping (and middle-order) spot. Rohit Sharma walked away, with KL Rahul moving up from the middle order. Virat Kohli retired too, making more space in the middle order.
Karun Nair conjured an incredible comeback story, but the actual sequence of scores in England didn’t really extend the fairytale. Shubman Gill touched glory at No.4, but Sai Sudharsan – one of their No.3 contenders – couldn’t really capitalise on the Test fast-tracking.
Where does it leave Iyer?
Iyer’s an ODI certainty, even if he’s slipped out of T20I and Test contention. But the selectors now seem keen to change at least the latter.
The A setup generally gives a decent indication of India’s Test backups. By entrusting leadership on Iyer for Australia’s tour, the BCCI have given a clear signal. The collateral damage has been Abhimanyu Easwaran, the A captain before Iyer, now trailing in the race after an underwhelming run.
A future captaincy option for long, Iyer has strengthened that aspect further with two IPL finals in two years. Now, there’s no intention to mix formats here, but it does add to his gleaming set of recent achievements.
The two four-day games present an opportunity for Iyer to cut his way back in. India’s next Test assignment is against the West Indies in October, and the two games would be an ideal setting to make his case.
Unfortunately, but importantly, Sarfaraz Khan and Karun Nair are both missing from the squad. Sarfaraz is out due to a quadriceps injury, while Karun’s absence has also been linked to a finger injury on the England tour.
Within the squad, there’s competition from Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar. Padikkal hit 57 & 16* in his only Duleep Trophy appearance, whereas Patidar has been in incredible nick, putting together scores of 125, 66, 77 and 101. The IPL-winning captain has made a serious case for himself for a middle-order spot.
India would also not want to let go of Sai Sudharsan so easily, with the 21-year-old largely acknowledged as a future all-format star. He did not feature in the Duleep Trophy, but spent considerable time honing his skills at the Centre of Excellence.
As a backup opener (or No.3), Easwaran is also in the mix, but his demotion from A captaincy, and absence from the Duleep Trophy, doesn’t help his cause.
How has Iyer done in red-ball cricket?
Iyer took to Test cricket as comfortably as anyone, smashing 105 & 65 in his debut Test (2021). Significant scores against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in home Tests followed. A fine player of spin, Iyer can spend time on the pitch without letting the scoring stagnate. Over time, there’s been criticism over his ability against short-pitched bowling. He’s staved that off to an extent in white-ball cricket, and won’t necessarily have to deal with it as much on Indian pitches.
After being dropped from the Test side, Iyer linked up with Mumbai, scoring 95 in last year’s Ranji final. In the 2024 Duleep Trophy, he batted six times, managing scores of 9, 54, 0, 41, 0 and 50. In the Irani Cup that followed, he hit 57 & 8. Not really eye-catching numbers.
However, it was the start of the 2024/25 Ranji season that put him back on the map. Scores of 142 against Maharashtra and 233 against Odisha, while not against top-tier attacks, proved his red-ball appetite to a large degree.
Since then, in the limited pockets he’s faced the red ball, Iyer’s put up scores of 47, 11, 17, 25 and 12. The last two came in his solo Duleep Trophy appearance.
From a broader lens, Iyer doesn’t bring the volume of runs other contenders may have. The technical issues have quietly lingered whenever discussing his Test case. But he has found himself running an open race, nudged further with a leadership opportunity. The back injury and the contract snub are long in the past now. Among others, Aakash Chopra strongly feels it’s a precursor to a Test spot against the West Indies and South Africa.
It remains to be seen if he's able to make the most of the opportunity in Lucknow. Big runs against a touring A side will clear his path. If he does manage that, it will be another big milestone in Iyer’s remarkable comeback run.
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