Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane backed Shreyas Iyer to perform well in the upcoming Ranji Trophy semi-final and put the contractual turmoil behind him. It must be mentioned that Shreyas Iyer was recently left out of the BCCI central contracts. Iyer was not given the contract as he decided to violate BCCI’s directive to participate in the ongoing domestic competition.
Shreyas Iyer was absent during Mumbai’s quarterfinal against Baroda, citing back pain. Ajinkya Rahane said that Shreyas would not require any extra motivation to do well for Mumbai against Tamil Nadu.
“He’s an experienced player. His contribution has been amazing whenever he turned up for Mumbai. We are thrilled to have him on our team for the semifinal. I don’t think he needs any encouragement or advice. He has always contributed with the bat for Mumbai, and him being around other players in the dressing room will also help the team’s cause,” Rahane told the media at the BKC Ground.
Rahane also spoke about his form with the bat. So far, he has made 115 runs from six matches at an average of 12.77 with a lone fifty.
“It’s just a phase and you have to respect it (not scoring runs). When you’re batting well and scoring runs, it happens consistently. There’s nothing wrong with my batting. I just have to remain positive and back my game and instinct. I just have to go out there and play freely. I feel as a player you have to be confident and respect a phase. Move forward and learn whatever you can. You don’t want to go too far ahead,” he added.
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