Shreyas Iyer's year-long Test exile could end ahead of West Indies series with senior batter handed a red-ball lifeline

It’s been more than a year since Shreyas Iyer made his last appearance in Test cricket. The senior Mumbai batter had been dropped midway during the five-match Test series against England at home last year, and was even later removed from BCCI’s central contracts list along with wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan.

The 30-year-old wasn't even considered for the recent Test series in England for the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy despite scoring an impressive 480 runs in five matches at an average of 68.57 in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy.

Test comeback loading for Iyer? 

Iyer’s Test exile, however, could end soon, if the latest reports are to be believed. According to ESPNCricinfo, Iyer will be leading a 15-member India A team that will be playing two multi-day matches against Australia A in Lucknow later this month, presenting him an opportunity to stake claim in the squad for the two-match Test series against West Indies that gets underway on 2 October.

Iyer has been integral to the ODI team during this period, starring in India’s Champions Trophy triumph earlier this year, and has also delivered as a captain and as a batter in the Indian Premier League, where he had led Punjab Kings to the final earlier this year.

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The latest opportunity, however, presents Iyer the opportunity to become a regular member of the Test team once again, this time under a different captain and coach, with Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir having succeeded Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid respectively.

Rahul and Siraj also included in Iyer-led India A squad

Besides captain Iyer, senior wicketkeeper-opener KL Rahul and pacer Mohammed Siraj have also been included for the red-ball games against the Australian team, but only for the second match. The two seniors have not been included in the squad for the Asia Cup that gets underway next week.

Prasidh Krishna, who had starred in the series-leveling victory at The Oval last month, has been included for both games along with all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who had suffered a knee injury during the tour.

Wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, meanwhile, has been named Iyer’s deputy while. top-order batters Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudharsan and pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Yash Thakur have been included.

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India A squad for Australia A series: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran, N Jagadeesan (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (vc/wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Harsh Dubey, Ayush Badoni, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Khaleel Ahmed, Manav Suthar, Yash Thakur, KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj (only for second match).