This player, a strong contender for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, has become a headache for BCCI.

Team India's out-of-favour star batsman Shreyas Iyer scored his first first-class century in three years in the Ranji Trophy second round match between Mumbai and Maharashtra on Saturday. Playing after the dismissal of captain Ajinkya Rahane in the match, Iyer took command of the team along with young opener Ayush Mhatre. There was a partnership of more than 200 runs between the two players, due to which the team crossed the 300 mark. Shreyas's century has given Mumbai a lead of more than 200 runs so far.

Iyer scored a century after 11 months

Iyer hit 9 fours and three sixes during his unbeaten innings of 101 runs in 131 balls. Shreyas, who played the home Test series against England earlier this year, is currently out of the national team. With his century against Maharashtra, Iyer ended his long century drought in debut series cricket. The 29-year-old batsman scored his last first-class century against New Zealand in November 2021. Now he has scored more than six thousand runs in first class cricket.

Iyer's bat was quiet for a long time

Let us tell you that Iyer's performance has been poor since the beginning of the 2024-25 domestic cricket season. In the Duleep Trophy, Iyer scored just 154 runs in six innings, which included two fifties. In the next Irani Cup match for Mumbai, Iyer scored 57 and 8 in two innings. After this, Iyer could not open his account even in the opening round match of Ranji Trophy in Baroda last week.

Iyer is out of the central contract

Iyer was an important part of the Indian team in all formats last year. The Mumbai player performed well in the October–November World Cup in India, where he scored 468 runs including two centuries and three fifties and was one of the star players. Although he struggled in the Test matches, he was given a chance for a longer period of time. Ultimately he was dropped from the team midway through the Test series against England. In February this year, he also had to face the displeasure of BCCI, where he was not included in the central contract.