Named India A captain for two four-day games against Australia A at home, Shreyas Iyer walked out to bat at no.7 for West Zone in Duleep Trophy 2025 semifinal against Central Zone. On Day 4, Iyer lost his wicket to Madhya Pradesh spinner Saransh Jain. Iyer registered scores of 25 and 12 in the Duleep Trophy 2025 semifinal.
On Day 4, Yashasvi Jaiswal made up for the low score in the first innings. Jaiswal hit three fours and as many sixes in his 70-ball 64. Jaiswal and Aarya Desai shared a 62-run opening partnership. Serious injury replacement Saurabh Nawale for dismissed for a single-digit score by Jain as well. Nawale is the first serious injury replacement batter as per new rule. He replaced an injured Harvik Desai.
Centurion of the first innings, Ruturaj Gaikwad could not do much damage and was dismissed for a 23-ball 16 by Harsh Dubey. Tanush Kotian and Shams Mulani walked out to bat ahead of Iyer. Mulani lost his wicket to Jain as well. Iyer hit a four and a six before becoming Jain's fourth victim of the day. Then, Tushar Deshpande and Kotian's partnership took the score past 200. Deshpande scored 12 runs from 28 balls before losing his wicket to Dubey. Jain completed his fifer with skipper Shardul Thakur's wicket.
Central Zone script history
Earlier, Gaikwad's 184-run knock and Kotian, Thakur's half-centuries helped West Zone post 438 on the board. In reply, Central Zone managed to score 600, the highest score in Duleep history without a fifty. Shubham Sharma missed his century by four runs as he was dismissed run out. Opener Danish Malewar, captain Rajat Patidar, wicketkeeper-batter Upendra Yadav, Dubey and Jain scored their respective half-centuries. Central Zone took a 162-run lead.
Iyer’s next assignment
After T20 Asia Cup 2025 snub, Iyer has been named captain of India A. The two-unofficial Test series will begin on September 16. With two-Test series against West Indies at home just around the corner, Iyer will have a chance to make comeback to Test squad with impactful performances.