Everything went in India's favour in the fourth Test against Australia in Ahmedabad on Monday (March 13). Despite the match meandered to a draw, India booked their World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final ticket. Despite the draw, India sealed the Border-Gavaskar series 2-1 owing to their back-to-back wins in the first two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi respectively.
But the good news came at the cost of one bad news for India as their star batter Shreyas Iyer didn't turn out to bat on Day 4 owing to injury concerns.
Iyer injury concerns has put Team India in all sorts of bother ahead of the three-match ODI series against Australia which is set to be played from March 17. Iyer, who complained of pain in his lower back, underwent scans to determine the extent of the injury as BCCI medical team is closely monitoring his condition and has a crucial role to play in managing Iyer’s injury. There is high possibility that he will be able to participate in the upcoming ODI series against Australia.
Meanwhile, India skipper Rohit Sharma gave gave an update on Iyer's injury after the conclusion of fourth Test. Rohit said that Iyer ‘does not seem to be doing well’. However, he didn't provide any details pertinent to Iyer's injury but dropped a big hint that the star batter might be out of action for a while.
"Poor guy. It 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 in the press conference on Monday (March 13).
"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," he added.
Meanwhile, the Indian team and National Cricket Academy's injury management has once again come under scanner with the recurrence of Iyer's back injury. With World Cup being the most important tournament of the year and the player set to lead KKR in the IPL, it would be prudent if he takes rest for some time. After missing the first Test, Iyer was included from the second Test after being declared fit. However, he couldn't go big with the bat as he scored 4 and 12 in Delhi, 0 and 26 in the third Test in Indore and didn't turn out to bat in the fourth Test.
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