NEW DELHI: After a hiatus of over three months, middle-order batter
Shreyas Iyer
made a somewhat nervy return to the T20 format while participating in an in-house practice match of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Kolkata on Sunday.
Set to lead KKR in
IPL 2024
, Shreyas struggled to find his rhythm in the middle, scoring 22 runs off 19 balls before being stumped by
Phil Salt
off a local left-arm spinner.
Shreyas, who last played a T20 match in December 2023 against Australia in Bengaluru, faced a challenging start, being beaten outside the off-stump by pacer
Andre Russell
on his first ball.
Despite managing to hit Russell for a boundary on the next ball, the right-hander failed to settle into his groove during his time at the crease.
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Known for his proficiency against spinners, Shreyas appeared out of sorts against leg-spinner
Suyash Sharma
, who troubled him with sharp turn.
The 29-year-old eventually fell attempting to advance down the track and loft the spinner, missing the ball entirely, and allowing Englishman Salt to complete the stumping.
The practice match was contested between KKR Team Gold and KKR Team Purple, with Shreyas representing the latter.
Shreyas will be eager to improve his performance in the upcoming matches as a strong showing in this IPL edition is crucial for him to stay in contention for selection, especially after being excluded from the
BCCI
's central contract along with
Ishan Kishan
.
Despite scoring a brisk 53 off 37 balls against Australia at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Shreyas was overlooked for selection in the home T20I series against Afghanistan in January.
However, he showcased his form with a fluent 95 off 111 balls for Mumbai in the recent Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha at the Wankhede Stadium.
Mitchell Starc
, the record buy in the last IPL auction, will join the KKR squad on Monday.
(With PTI inputs)
English (US) ·