Former cricketer Mohammad Kaif credited Shreyas Iyer for featuring in the India ‘A’ home series against Australia ‘A’ to maintain his rhythm ahead of the white-ball series against the Men in Yellow.
The right-handed batter struck a sublime fifty in India’s two-wicket loss to Mitchell Marsh and co. in the second ODI at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, October 23.
Shreyas Iyer was named captain of the India ‘A’ team for the three-match series against Australia ‘A’ in Kanpur, where he led from the front with a fifty and a hundred in the 2-1 win. He ended as the second-leading scorer of the series, placed only behind Riyan Parag’s tally of 187 runs.
Mohammad Kaif praised the middle-order batter’s initiative to feature in the series to prepare for the Australian challenge. He compared Iyer’s rhythm to that of Virat Kohli, who did not feature for India ‘A’ and is yet to get off the mark in the series after successive ducks.
“I had met Iyer recently and asked about his stance. I also asked him that since he is only playing ODIs now after his red-ball break and not being part of T20Is, how he is still able to play with the same rhythm? He is a mentally sorted person; he knows his game so well that he has fine-tuned his mind. He played in the India ‘A’ matches as well, and this is why I say that Virat and Rohit also have to play in such matches, because Iyer is an example,” Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
“Iyer played the India ‘A’ matches, and that is why you see the fluency in his batting. He never looks out of touch, like how Virat is looking right now. Virat, at the moment, looks unsettled, and that is not the case with Iyer, because he has been playing,” he added.
Virat Kohli’s struggles continued as he was trapped LBW by Xavier Bartlett for a four-ball duck in the seventh over. Earlier, in the series opener, he perished for an eight-ball duck, dismissed by a sharp catch from Cooper Connolly.
The ace batter’s last competitive appearance before the Australian tour came during the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Since then, he had been training individually in England, preparing for his return.
Shreyas Iyer has had an eventful year, having been an integral part of Team India’s 2025 Champions Trophy triumph before leading Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the IPL final. However, it was followed by a snub for the England tour and the 2025 Asia Cup.
The batter made a bold decision to take a break from red-ball cricket due to injury and workload concerns. He had featured in the Duleep Trophy and the unofficial Test against Australia ‘A’ before announcing his break.
“When I came back at the start of the year, I was coming off an exceptional domestic season with a near-300 average. So in a way, when you play domestic cricket, you derive great confidence coming into international cricket because you have runs behind you. Of course, you have expectations that you’ll play 100%. And a lot of things aren’t in my hands either. I can go and perform on the ground, that’s in my hands. By God’s grace, I got that opportunity at the start of the year and I maximised it. I’ve been playing continuously since with the Champions Trophy and the IPL,” Iyer said during the post-match press conference after the second ODI against Australia.
He was recently named vice-captain of the ODI side as well, after Shubman Gill replaced Rohit Sharma as skipper ahead of the Australia tour.
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