SHREYAS Iyer has been included in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy side after he made himself available for the semi-final against Tamil Nadu starting at the MCA-BKC ground on Saturday.
Iyer, who had been left out of the Indian squad after the second Test against England, skipped the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Baroda citing back pain, even though Nitin Patel, the head of sports science and medicine at the National Cricket Academy, in an email to selectors, had confirmed that there was ‘no fresh injury’ reports and that Iyer was ‘fit’.
Washington Sundar, who was also part of the Test squad without getting a game, has been released and will represent Tamil Nadu in the last-four clash.
Iyer’s inclusion in the Mumbai squad comes on the heels of BCCI secretary Jay Shah warning centrally-contracted and A team players that non-participation in domestic cricket would have ‘severe implications’. This came after wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan not playing for Jharkhand after withdrawing from the South Africa tour citing ‘personal reasons.’ Ishan was then seen training with his new Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya ahead of the upcoming IPL season.
In his email, which was seen by The Indian Express, Patel had written: “Shreyas Iyer was fit and available for selection as per the handover report of the Indian team after the 2nd Test match against England. There are currently no fresh injuries reported as well after his departure from Team India.”
The national selectors, after taking inputs from the BCCI medical team, had told Iyer to play Ranji Trophy so that his back gets used to the strain of batting and being on the field for an extended period of time. According to the reports published in indianexpress.com .
Mumbai squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Musheer Khan, Prasad Pawar, Hardik Tamore, Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Aditya Dhumal, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Avasthi, Royston Dias, Dhawal Kulkarni.
