Team India batter Shreyas Iyer, who has been nursing his recurring back injury after being ruled out of the ODI series against Australia, checked in at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on Wednesday, March 29 and will be eyeing a comeback in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, as per reports. Iyer, who missed the New Zealand ODI series in January due to a back injury was declared fit and joined the Indian team after the Nagpur Test. However, the injury resurfaced during the final Test in Ahmedabad and Iyer had to go to rehab again.
As per a report by Cricbuzz, Iyer after having delayed the surgery to stay in contention to take part in the ICC Cricket World Cup in October, now wants to be available for selection for the WTC final, which is set to take place from June 7-11 in London against Australia. “He has met the specialist and the NCA officials. All are on the same page that the operation can be deferred. He will follow the experts’ advice,” a source close to Iyer was quoted as saying. Iyer will undergo periodic treatment and will take an injection on Thursday, March 30.
India qualified for the WTC final after a 2-1 series win over Australia and were also helped by New Zealand, who beat the other contenders for a spot in the summit clash, Sri Lanka, 2-0 in the two-match Test series.
Apart from the ODIs, Iyer was also ruled out of the first half of the IPL 2023 but is now facing the race against time to be fit for at least some games in the latter half as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Chandrakant Pandit hoped that he can be available for some part of the tournament.
Iyer, who led the two-time champions last season was set to have a big season with KKR this year not just as a player but as a captain too but the untimely injury has ruled him out. In place of Iyer, top-order batter Nitish Rana, who led Delhi in domestic games this season, has been handed the reins. Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their IPL 2023 campaign against the Punjab Kings in Mohali in an away game on Saturday, April 1.
