Shreyas Iyer lies to MCA to skip Ranji clash against Baroda, NCA official exposes under-fire batsman: Report

Shreyas Iyer has reportedly lied to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to skip the Ranji clash between Mumbai and Baroda. The BCCI recently issued a directive to the players, making it mandatory for them to play for their state teams when they are not a part of the Indian team or not injured. The directive came after Ishan Kishan and Pandya brothers faced severe backlash for not playing in the ongoing Ranji Trophy and training privately.

Shreyas Iyer played in the first two Tests against England before being dropped for the final three games. And while he was expected to return to action in the Ranji game against Baroda, the batsman decided otherwise. He pulled out of the game citing a back injury. However, the batsman is reportedly fit and lied to the MCA to avoid playing in the Ranji game.

Shreyas Iyer fully fit:

While Shreyas Iyer pulled out of the game against Baroda due to a back injury, the National Cricket Academy (NCA) official has come up with a different claim. According to a report in the Indian Express, Nitin Patel, the head of sports science and medicine at the NCA, has informed the selectors that there were ‘no fresh injury’ reports and Shreyas Iyer was ‘fit’.

“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,” read the email from Patel.

Earlier, Shreyas Iyer was told by the selectors to play in the Ranji Trophy to regain his red-ball form.  After failing to do well in the two-match Test series in South Africa, he played the Ranji game against Andhra last month and scored 48 runs. It was followed by some poor displays against England where he registered knocks of 35, 13, 27, and 39.

Earlier this month, BCCI secretary Jay Shah stated that the players could face severe repercussions for not playing domestic cricket. As per media reports, the BCCI is reportedly set to make it mandatory for the players to play a minimum number of games in domestic cricket to be eligible for the IPL as well as the IPL auction.