Shreyas Iyer to play for Lancashire during Royal London Cup 2021

Shreyas Iyer is a reliable middle-order batsman for Team India, especially in the limited-overs circuit. Iyer will become one of the select Indians to play domestic cricket in England. Lancashire has never won England's domestic 50-over competition.

Indian middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer has become one of the select Indian players to play domestic cricket in England. Middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer has signed a deal with Lancashire to feature in the Royal  London One-Day Cup group stage.

Iyer in List-A
Iyer has decent 50-over stats, having scored 3,970 List-A runs in 98 innings at an average of 45.11, including 25 half-centuries and eight tons, along with a top score of 148. In One-Day Internationals, he has scored 807 runs in 19 innings at 44.83, with eight 50s and a ton, while he has a top score of 103.

Reason
It is not sure what prompted Iyer to play limited-overs domestic cricket in England, given that it would only play Test cricket in the United Kingdom this year. Nonetheless, it would surely be an excellent signing for Lancashire, given that the Indians would not be participating in England's upcoming new domestic tournament, The Hundred. Furthermore, this would be Iyer's first limited-overs outing in England.

Reactions
"Lancashire is a legendary name in English Cricket with a long-standing association with Indian Cricket. I am extremely humbled and honoured to carry the legacy forward of greats like Farokh Engineer, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman at Lancashire. Emirates Old Trafford is a world-class international stadium and I am looking forward to meeting my teammates and the supporters of the Club," said Iyer in a release by Lancashire.

"Shreyas is one of the shining lights of a new generation of Indian batsman and a leader, and we're delighted that an opportunity to bring him to Emirates Old Trafford has presented itself. His current form against England has been hugely impressive and we're looking forward to welcoming him to Lancashire Cricket and Emirates Old Trafford later this summer," added Paul Allott, Director of Cricket for Lancashire.

About Lancashire
Although Lancashire has never won the RLC, it won the preceding 40-over competition on five occasions, with its last title in 1999. Besides Iyer, the other Indians who did play for Lancashire are Farokh Engineer (1968–1976), Sourav Ganguly (2000), Murali Kartik (2005–2006), VVS Laxman (2007–2009) and Dinesh Mongia (2004).

Notably, Iyer has learnt a lot under Ganguly during his mentorship stint with the Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Capitals. Also, with Ganguly having good terms with Lancashire, it could have been the Iyer's driving factor in joining the English side.