Vijay Hazare Trophy: Shreyas shows no rust on comeback from Sydney injury

Shreyas Iyer has had his fair share of comebacks from injuries, but he is unlikely to forget the one today, 6 January, in a hurry. More than two months after a life-threatening injury during the India-Australia one-day game in Sydney, he staged a comeback in a Vijay Hazare Trophy encounter in Jaipur with a power-packed 82, making it seem as if he had never been away.

It was a tale of contrasting fortunes for the captain and his deputy in India's ODI team, which will square off against the Kiwis in a three-match series starting this weekend. While Iyer, who captained Mumbai in the absence of an injured Shardul Thakur, guided his team to a thrilling seven-run win over Himachal Pradesh, Gill fell for 11 as his team Punjab prevailed against Goa.

The last international appearance for Iyer was on 25 October last year, when he suffered a spleen laceration while falling awkwardly in trying to complete a high catch, and had to be rushed to intensive care.  Back in action after prolonged rehabilitation, he raced to an impressive half-century, eventually falling just short of a century but leaving a lasting impact with 82 runs off 53 balls, hitting 10 fours and three sixes.

Iyer’s fluent innings laid the foundation as Mumbai posted a challenging 299/9 in the 33-over-a-side match, which saw Himachal mount a spirited chase before falling short by seven runs.

All eyes were on India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav too, who struggled once again to manage only 24 runs off 18 deliveries, leaving questions about his form with the T20 World Cup exactly a month away. Yashasvi Jaiswal, meanwhile, fell for 15.

The failure of Gill, who missed the first domestic game owing to a stomach bug, became a talking point as the ODI format and Test matches are more up his street. It’s been tough times for the Test and ODI captain, who was a shocking omission from the World T20 squad.

Meanwhile, Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant had a decent outing as he went on to score 24 from nine balls — including three sixes and a four. Chasing a low total — 180 vs Railways, they got home in 22 overs. Ishan Kishan, on the other hand, did not have the best of days as he could only score nine against MP, but Jharkhand still managed to win the encounter.

In another match, K.L. Rahul couldn’t convert a good start as he was dismissed for 25 against Rajasthan, following previous scores of 35 and 25.