Shreyas Iyer, once denied central contract due to non-participation in domestics, opts out of Mumbai's Ranji game

According to the most recent development, Shreyas Iyer has opted himself out of Mumbai's final group-stage fixture of the current edition's Ranji Trophy. This comes after he reportedly made a last-minute decision of wanting to focus on the upcoming three-match ODI series against England.

Mumbai are scheduled to take on Meghalaya at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in Mumbai. Their Round 7 game is set to commence on Thursday, January 30.

“(Shreyas) Iyer won’t be playing the next Ranji Trophy game as he will be preparing for white-ball cricket, so are (Rohit) Sharma and (Yashasvi) Jaiswal,” stated a source affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association, as quoted by The Indian Express. 

All three superstars of Indian cricket had severely underwhelming outings against Jammu & Kashmir, which the hosts ended up losing by five wickets. Iyer was the only one out of the three to register double-digit scores twice (11 and 17 in Mumbai's first and second innings, respectively).

The defending champions are currently placed third in Group A, and would need to register an outright win to be in the hunt for advancing to the knockout stages. With three wins, two draws, and one loss, they are sitting with 22 points in the bank at present.

According to the same report, the aforementioned batters will report to Nagpur in the first week of February. The first ODI India will play will be at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium. Two more ODIs will be played thereafter, post which the three along with the 12 other members will fly to the United Arab Emirates to participate in the ninth instalment of the Champions Trophy.

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Iyer last featured for India in August 2024 during India's white-ball tour to Sri Lanka. He will be aiming to find his mojo in the ODIs against England. On the other hand, the upcoming 50-over series is all set to be Jaiswal's first few ODIs. The southpaw has had to wait for his chance in this particular format, having debuted for the nation in T20Is and Tests in 2023 itself.