Ranji Trophy | Shreyas challenged with short-ball ploy upon Ranji Trophy return

Shreyas Iyer impresses with his batting in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy tie against Andhra, but falls short of a milestone.

Even before Bhupen Lalwani and Suved Parkar had crossed boundary line after lunch was called on Day One of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy tie against Andhra, Shreyas Iyer – the next batter in Mumbai’s order – had taken guard at the practice nets on the sidelines.

While batting coach Vinit Indulkar and a side-arm specialist hurled short balls at him, Atharva Ankolekar bowled left-arm spin to Shreyas who batted flawlessly for almost half an hour before returning to the dressing room.

Having returned from South Africa earlier in the week and omitted from the T20I squad for India’s ongoing series against Afghanistan, Shreyas had skipped the team’s final pre-match training session on Thursday.

The short session appeared to be a routine to get a feel of the conditions. Half an hour after resumption, Shreyas took guard again — this time where it mattered — after opener Lalwani had perished.

The next eighty-four minutes saw Shreyas dealing with a consistent bowling attack without any fuss.

It didn’t come as a surprise that soon after he had got his eye in – and Parkar at his patient best at the other end – Andhra employed the short-ball ploy. With a six-three field on the on-side, Andhra pacers preferred the short-ball ploy to Shreyas.

While he had faced the side-armers over the wicket, for most of his innings, the Andhra pacers, especially Nitish Kumar Reddy, preferred bowling around the wicket to him. Captain Ricky Bhui and senior pro Hanuma Vihari did their best to unsettle Shreyas by employing innovative fielding positions.