Ranji Trophy 2024-25: Shreyas Iyer falls for an eight-ball duck against Baroda as form slump continues

On Saturday, Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer made another duck against Baroda in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024–25 match. Iyer’s recent loss has compounded his run of underwhelming performances and cast question on his form and chances of making it back into India’s Test team.

There is a lot of pressure on the 29-year-old to return to form and provide a compelling case for being included in the Test team ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in November.

Iyer entered the game as the sixth Mumbai hitter with the scoreboard showing 140/3 against Baroda at the Kotambi International Cricket Stadium in Vadodara. On the eighth ball of the batting innings, left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt removed him for a duck, ending his brief stint at the crease.

In the last four First-Class games, Shreyas Iyer recorded his third duck.

Iyer was dismissed for the third time in his last four first-class matches. He had previously suffered similar setbacks while captaining India D in the Duleep Trophy.

He scored 57 and 8 in the Irani Cup tie at Lucknow, but only got two fifties in three matches (six innings) during the Duleep Trophy. The Mumbai native was not included in the Indian team recently for the forthcoming three-Test series against New Zealand.

The Mumbai team faces Krunal Pandya’s Baroda in the Ranji Trophy, and they are in a difficult situation because they are the reigning champions and have just won their maiden Irani Cup. Day 2 tea came with Mumbai trailing by 127 runs at 163/5 after 45 overs, with Shams Mulani and Siddhesh Lad at the crease.

Krunal Pandya, the captain of Baroda, decided to bat first after winning the toss. Atit Sheth (66) and Mitesh Patel (86) both made significant contributions as the team amassed a first-inning total of 290. Tanush Kotian took four wickets for Mumbai and was their main ball-bender wrecker. Shams Mulani contributed three significant scalps as well.

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With scores of 52 and 40, respectively, Ayush Mhatre and Hardik Tamore helped the reigning champions recover after opener Prithvi Shaw left the game early.