Shreyas Iyer’s back injury does not look good, says Rohit Sharma

Though the India captain did not specify about the seriousness of the injury, the indications are clear that Iyer will not be featuring in the three-match ODIs against Australia that begins in Mumbai on March 17.

Over the last few months, Iyer has struggled with his lower-back issues and now with another scare resurfacing, it also raises questions about the NCA and its fitness regimes.  | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Shreyas Iyer, who complained of a lower-back pain on the third day of the fourth and the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and underwent scans, is likely to be out of action for a while.

While a statement by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday morning stated that Iyer wouldn’t feature in the remainder of the Test match, India captain Rohit Sharma said that the batter ‘does not seem to be doing well’.

Though Rohit did not specify the seriousness of the injury, the indications are clear that Iyer will not be featuring in the three-match ODIs against Australia that begins in Mumbai on March 17.

“Poor guy. It just was such an unfortunate incident. He had to wait all day to bat and then when the day got over, the issue he had with his back, recurred. He was sent to the hospital to take scans. I don’t know the exact report of the scans, but he does not seem to be doing that well,” Rohit said, after India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, clinching the series 2-1.

“Obviously, that’s why he’s not present here, so we don’t know the exact status of how long he will take to recover or when he will be back. When it happened, it did not look that great. I hope he recovers quickly and comes back and plays again,” Rohit said.

Earlier this year, the Mumbai batter had opted out of the ODI series against New Zealand and was later asked to undergo rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. While the sources in the Board had then indicated that Iyer would take ‘at least’ a couple of weeks to recover, he had missed out on the first Test against Australia in Indore, due to a back injury.

But he was drafted into the team straightaway for the second Test in New Delhi after clearing the fitness test, where he scored 4 and 12, and struggled in the third fixture in Indore with scores of 0 and 26.

Over the last few months, Iyer has struggled with his lower-back issues and now with another scare resurfacing, it also raises questions about the NCA and its fitness regimes. It is another instance of a player’s injury resurfacing soon after the Board’s medical committee’s go-ahead to play international cricket.

This also makes Iyer, who is also the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, for the Indian Premier League, a doubtful starter. Though the franchise remained tight-lipped on the issue, it needs to be seen how things pan out over the next few days, leading up to the start of the tournament on March 31.