India’s injury woes continue to mount against England, with Shreyas Iyer the latest to join the bandwagon.
According to reports (in Indian Express), Iyer complained of stiffness in the back and also pain in his groin which has put his participation for the remainder of the series in serious doubt. Moreover, it has also been understood that the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has written to the BCCI regarding the fitness status of the Mumbai cricketer.
“Iyer has informed the Indian team management and the medical staff that his back gets stiff after playing more than 30 balls and he feels pain in his groin while playing forward defence. ost surgery, he is facing this issue for the first time so he has been advised to rest for a few weeks. He will head to NCA later,” the source said.
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This is a massive blow for India who are lacking experience in their batting line-up. The form of Shreyas Iyer was also a matter of concern for the hosts with scores of 35, 13, 27 and 29 in four innings of the England series. He was criticised for throwing his wicket away in both Test matches and not being comfortable against the short ball and against the spinners in testing conditions.
He hasn’t scored a half-century either in the last 13 innings in Test cricket and his latest injury is another major setback for Iyer. He had missed the start of the India vs Australia Test series last year as well and his back injury flared up during the last Test of the same series in Ahmedabad after which he had to undergo back surgery.
Lengthy rehabilitation post-surgery meant that he had to miss the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well and only returned to action in August ahead of the Asia Cup. Having said that, this time around, it is being deemed that Iyer will be fully fit by the time the IPL gets underway next month.
Shreyas Iyer latest to join India injury list
Meanwhile, team India squad for the last three Tests is expected to be announced later today (February 9). The selectors were earlier expected to meet on Thursday (February 8) but reportedly awaited fitness status from the NCA regarding KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja who missed the Vizag Test due to different injuries. It is being reported that the former is almost certain to make a comeback.
Iyer is the latest to be injured for India: Mohammed Shami, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav along with Rahul and Jadeja are the others to be out of action due to injuries.
For the unversed, the five-match Test series between India and England is currently levelled at 1-1. England won the Hyderabad Test but then India made a stunning comeback in Visakhapatnam with a 106-run win thanks to brilliant performances from Jasprit Bumrah and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The third Test of the five-match series is scheduled to get underway on February 15 as both teams will be looking to gain ascendancy in the series.
