India batter Shreyas Iyer, who had missed the first two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi owing to his recovery from a back issue, was forced once again to seek medical help after he was unable to bat in India's 1st innings and didn't take the field on the final day of the 4th Test against Australia in Ahmedabad.
After making his comeback to Indian XI in Indore Test, Shreyas’ chronic lower back pain issue resurfaced in Ahmedabad. BCCI confirmed that Iyer was taken to the hospital for scans and it has been reported that he might miss the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia starting March 17.
Besides that, Iyer is also in danger of missing the IPL 2023, where he is set to captain the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise.
Talking about the same in the post-match conference, captain Rohit Sharma said: "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. Obviously, that's why he's not present here.”
The Indian captain said that he is not sure how long it will take for the dashing batter to be match-fit again.
"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," the skipper said.
This reoccurrence of Iyer’s back issues has put a question mark on the officials and medical personnel of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
After fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna -- both of whom have had delayed back surgeries -- how was Iyer given a go-ahead to directly play a Test match, instead of featuring in the Irani Cup in Gwalior, is a question being asked now.
In Iyer’s case, the Indian team management didn’t follow the policy to check out an unfit player coming back after rehab at the NCA, in domestic cricket.
Interestingly, the policy was set up by current India coach Rahul Dravid, when he was the head of the NCA.
(PTI inputs)
