Shreyas Iyer smashed a career-best score of 233 to hold defending champions Mumbai at the end of the second day of the Ranji Trophy at the MCA-BKC Stadium on Thursday Driver’s seat.
Iyer’s marathon batting helped the home team declare their first innings at 602 for 4 before reducing Odisha to 146 for 5. Iyer started the day with 152 points, adding 81 points to his personal tally. His partner Siddhesh Lad recovered at 116 to remain unbeaten on 169. Mumbai record, surpassing the 342 runs added by Rohit Sharma and Sushant Marathe against Gujarat at the Brabourne Stadium.
If Iyer was showing off his batting skills, Ladd was avoiding risks in his approach. The former, who scored just 201 balls, notched his third first-class double hundred and hit a lofty straight drive to pacer Debabrata Pradhan for four. He was bowled by wicketkeeper Aasirwad Swain after hitting 24 fours and nine sixes off the bowling of left-arm spinner Harshit Rathod. .
The arrival of this double ton comes at a time when Iyer is looking to regain his old style. Ladd was pleased with his partner’s innings and attack.
“He plays cricket very aggressively and likes to chase bowlers,” Ladd said.
Until a few months ago, Ladd was unsure of Iyer’s future in the game if he attempted to return to the Test squad. Two years ago, he moved to Goa as a professional and played there for one season before returning.
As per Mumbai Cricket Association policy, these players have to undergo a one-year cooling-off period before they can be considered again for the state team. During those two years, Ladd said, he lacked motivation.
“Last June, I didn’t know how things were going to go. Lack of motivation. I hadn’t had any serious hits the past two years and had hernia surgery. I had a lot going on in my head, and then offseason training camp It started. I was given a big push by my team management and we used to train from 6:20am to 6:20pm. After 30, the body doesn’t stay the same anymore, so the team support staff does it for me. Different training plans were drawn up and I followed them,” Lad recalled.
He scored an unbeaten 169 against Odisha, scoring 337 balls, and he was never in a hurry to attack. With Ayer scoring quickly, Ryder took over the anchor role.
After Iyer’s dismissal, 21-year-old Suryansh Shedge played a role in a tiring Odisha attack, scoring 79 runs off 36 balls to help Mumbai quickly cross the 600-run mark. His cameos included six sixes and seven fours.
Odisha were in trouble right from the start of their innings as Swastik Samal bowled Shardul Thakur for a duck. Anurag Sarangi and Sandeep Pattnaik added 109 runs for the second wicket before they lost three wickets in two overs , and lost another one at the end of the game. Mumbai spinners Shams Mulani and Himanshu Singh took two wickets each as Odisha trailed by 456 runs on the day and in the following It will be a tough battle in two days.
Brief Score: Mumbai 602/4 declared (Shreyas Iyer 233, Siddhesh Lad 169 not out, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 92, Suryansh Shedge 79 not out) vs Odisha 146/5 (Sandeep Pattnaik 73 not out)
