Veteran India batter Shreyas Iyer has played seven multi-day games – two in Buchi Babu, three in the Duleep Trophy and two in the Ranji Trophy so far in about two months after returning from his back surgery about 12 months ago. The back ‘feels good’ now, says Iyer, but there is a need to manage the work now as well.

“My job is to keep performing and keep participating as much as possible and also see to it that my body is in the best shape,” the veteran middle-order Mumbai batter said after scoring 142 against Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy on Saturday. “So I will make the best decision possible. After the surgery, I played the World Cup, Asia cup and many more matches, but there was this phase where I was feeling that it might occur again. I trained a lot to see to it that I have optimum fitness and obviously it comes here and there, but now my capacity has improved.”

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“No matter whatever people think outside, I have to listen to my body because I know the amount of threshold I’ve carried over the last few years and based on that I’ll be taking the right decision and I hope that my team will also back (me),” he again said.

However, Shreyas Iyer, who scored his first Ranji Trophy century in six years – since his 178 against Baroda way back in December 2018 – has been focusing on his fitness as well. After the second day’s play at the BKC Ground in Mumbai, he opined on his efforts, saying that he was trying to push his limits as well.

“I have improved my long distance running. I was stressing up my body, pushing my body. (I was doing) 400, 800 meters running and I was trying to push my limits and see to it that I was at the best fitness possible,” Iyer added. “See, I have addressed my feelings (about the longer format). Things didn’t go my way. But I’ve also addressed it in the previous interviews I’ve given.”

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“But I’m in a good space right now. I’m doing what I’m meant to do, that is training and playing matches consistently. And I feel that all the matches I’ve played right now in the past have helped me gain that fitness level. This is my seventh match on the trot and yeah, the body has taken a lot of load. We have to manage here and there and see to it that I strategize in terms of how I play,” Shreyas Iyer concluded. “Obviously I was feeling a bit down with my injuries, but now getting a century after a very long time, it’s a great feeling overall. I am absolutely keen for a comeback, but, yeah, as we say, control the controllables”