Shreyas Iyer has reportedly asked for an indefinite break from red-ball cricket. He says he’s tired and has a back injury. This comes just before the new Ranji season and raises doubts over whether Iyer will play for Mumbai.
Iyer pulled out of India A’s second match against Australia A at the last minute citing personal reasons and went home. Dhruv Jurel took over as captain.
According to the Indian Express, Iyer told the BCCI he needs time off from red-ball cricket due to fitness issues. Sources say his back isn’t fit and he can’t stay on the field for more than 4 days straight.
Read Also:- Lowest Scores in Women’s Cricket World Cup History
So Iyer is choosing to avoid red-ball cricket to manage his workload and not make his injury worse. This means he won’t be playing in the upcoming Test series against West Indies at home.
He will also probably miss the Ranji 2025-26 season. Ajinkya Rahane stepped down as Mumbai captain and many thought Iyer would take his place. But now it seems unlikely since he’s not fully fit. The Ranji 2025-26 season starts on October 15 and Mumbai plays Jammu and Kashmir in the first match.
With only 3 weeks to go for the domestic season, it’s highly unlikely Iyer will recover from his back problem. This is a big blow to Mumbai’s batting line up especially since Prithvi Shaw also left to play for Maharashtra.
In the 2024-25 Ranji season Iyer played 7 innings and scored 480 runs. He had an average of 68.57 and a strike rate of 90.22 with 2 centuries. In his overall first class career which includes 140 innings Iyer has scored 6408 runs with an average of 47.82 with 15 centuries and 22 half centuries.
Looking at his Test career Shreyas Iyer has played 14 red ball matches. In 24 innings he has scored 811 runs with an average of 36.86 with 1 century and 5 half centuries.
