<p>Indian middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer, who was removed during Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy semifinal match against Tamil Nadu on Sunday, extended his dismal long-format record by managing just three runs.</p>
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<p>After quitting domestic red-ball cricket, Iyer was recently removed from the BCCI Central Contract List for 2023–24. He managed only three runs in eight deliveries before bowler Sandeep Warrier clean-bowled him.</p>
<p>The right-handed hitter who attacks has had a difficult few months. Iyer had an incredible ICC Cricket World Cup in India from October to November. In 11 matches, he scored 530 runs at an average of 66.25 and a strike rate of over 113, with two hundred and three fifties.</p>
<p>Iyer, who finished the tournament with the seventh-highest run total, was the foundation of the Indian batting lineup and was a major factor in the team’s 10-game winning streak that carried them to the finals, where they were defeated by Australia.</p>
<p>In the tournament, he broke many milestones. He was the first middle-order batsman to ever achieve 500+ runs in a single World Cup edition. In the semifinals against New Zealand, he also hit the quickest century in World Cup knockout history in only 70 balls.</p>
<p>Following the tournament, Iyer played further white-ball cricket against Australia and South Africa before turning his attention to Test cricket. Despite having a strong start to his Test career, his results significantly declined.</p>
<p>With a top score of 35, he has only managed to score 187 runs at an average of 17.00 in his previous seven Test matches and twelve innings. During the South Africa trip and the home series against England, he had lackluster performances.</p>
<p>Iyer lost his core contract after being left out of the Indian team for the following three Test matches against England. This was because the BCCI is stringent about players missing out on domestic cricket and preferring the Indian Premier League (IPL). Iyer did not appear in any red-ball games.</p>
<p>Interestingly, he had scored 48 runs in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy match against Andhra Pradesh before the England series.</p>
<p>Prior to the game, Tamil Nadu won the toss and chose to bat first, however, they were bowled out for 146 runs. The main scorers for the side were Vijay Shankar (44), Washington Sundar (43), and Tushar Deshpande (3/24), Tanush Kotian (2/10), and Shardul Thakur (2/48) after they had exhausted their batting line.</p>
<p>Mumbai is now having trouble with the accurate bowling of Tamil Nadu.</p>