After a gap of over three months, middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer made a rather edgy return to T20 format while playing in an inhouse practice match of Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on Sunday.
Shreyas, who is set to lead KKR in IPL 2024, hardly looked comfortable in the middle while registering 22 of 19 balls before getting stumped by Phil Salt off a local left-arm spinner.
Shreyas, who last played a T20 in December 2023, against Australia in Bengaluru, was beaten outside the off-stump in the very first ball he faced from pacer Andre Russell.
In the very next ball, he glanced Russell for a four but the right-hander never really found his bearings during his stint in the middle.
Usually comfortable against spinners, Shreyas on this day looked all at sea against leg-spinner Suyansh Sharma who managed to beat him with some sharp turn.
The 29-year-old eventually got out when he tried to shimmy down the track and loft the spinner. He completely missed the ball and Englishman Salt did the rest behind the stumps.
The match played was between KKR Team Gold and KKR Team Purple, for whom Shreyas came out to bat.
Shreyas will be hoping to better his efforts in the coming days as a good outing in this edition of the IPL is mandatory for him to remain within selectors' radar after missing out on BCCI's central contract along with Ishan Kishan.
It may be recalled that Shreyas was not considered for selection for the home T20I series against Afghanistan in January despite him making a 37-ball 53 against the Aussies at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
However, Shreyas had made a fluent 111-ball 95 for Mumbai in the recent Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha at the Wankhede Stadium.
Mitchell Starc, the record buy in last IPL auction, will join the KKR squad on Monday.
