In what comes as devastating news for Indian cricket, star middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer is likely to undergo back surgery, Sports Tak has learned. Iyer, who suffered a back problem in the middle of the fourth Test match between India and Australia, will likely remain sidelined for at least five months, and as a result, the Mumbaikar will miss the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), World Test Championship Final (WTC) and other bilateral series.
"Shreyas Iyer was in touch with a doctor in Mumbai and on the 3rd meeting, he has been advised for surgery which means the right-handed batter will miss the IPL and WTC final," a source told Sports Tak.
"Iyer wants to undergo surgery in London but consultation for the operation is still underway as BCCI has yet to finalise the venue of the operation. There is a possibility that the surgery might take place in India," the source added.
The news comes a day after head coach Rahul Dravid rued about Iyer's injury and said 'it's unfortunate'. Iyer suffered an injury to his back and is currently undergoing rehabilitation.
"Obviously. it is unfortunate for Shreyas to get injured. He is probably one of those guys who would bat at No.4 and given a lot of time at that position. If you notice we have stuck to the people in positions. For two years leading into this run, there is a lot of T20 cricket played and we did not have a lot of one-day cricket and if there are injuries and all that, we do have options," the Indian head coach said during a media interaction.
It is important to note that the stylish right-handed batter recently made a comeback to the Indian side after missing the New Zealand white-ball series and the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar series. The Mumbaikar sustained a back injury and headed to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to start the recovery process. After completing the rehabilitation process, Iyer returned for the second Test match against Australia in Delhi. Iyer failed to make an impact and tallied just 42 runs in four innings against the Baggy Greens.
Having said that, Iyer was a tremendous form with the bat in 2022. He was one of the best Indian batters in ODIs and Tests, scoring plenty of runs with attractive shots. So far, the Mumbaikar has represented Inda in eight Tests, 42 ODIs and 49 T20Is. In all three formats combined, the right-handed batter has scored more than 3,300 runs.
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