Aditya Tare and Shreyas Iyer turn clock back at Wankhede Stadium

Nearly a decade after their memorable partnership helped Mumbai dominate domestic cricket, Aditya Tare and Shreyas Iyer briefly turned the clock back at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday (June 4, 2026).

Only this time, the context was different.

Back in 2015-16, it was Tare the Mumbai captain and Iyer the prodigious youngster smashing a record 1,321-run Ranji Trophy season that launched him towards international cricket. On Thursday (June 4, 2026), representing SoBo Mumbai Falcons, the duo helped Falcons register its first win of the T20 Mumbai season.

Tare later revealed that Iyer’s decision to play purely as an Impact Player had little to do with injury concerns and everything to do with workload management.

“He is alright. There are no injury concerns as such,” Tare said after the victory against defending champion MSC Maratha Royals. “He has come off a long IPL season, he is going to play the ODI series coming up, so we want him to be as fresh as possible and give his best with the bat rather than spending long periods on the field.”

Iyer, who arrived for T20 Mumbai after captaining Punjab Kings through what turned out to be an arduous IPL campaign, is expected to join India’s ODI squad for the series against the Afghanistan national cricket team shortly and is expected to be announced as India’s next T20I captain when squads for the Ireland and England tours are announced on Saturday (June 6, 2026).

For Tare, however, batting alongside Iyer remains a familiar comfort.

“You know how great Shreyas is. Over the last decade, he has become one of the legends of Indian cricket and still has many years left,” Tare said. “I’m fortunate he is part of this franchise because batting with him always makes things easier for the partner.”

They may not have batted together – with Shreyas consolidating after a quickfire start by Tare – but the camaraderie looked largely unchanged. “Playing at Wankhede itself is a privilege,” Tare said. “And batting alongside Shreyas always makes it special.”