India batter Shreyas Iyer opened up on the horrible injury that he sustained during the third ODI against Australia in October. He was out of action for over two months due to a lacertation of the spleen and was even taken to the hospital due to internal bleeding. After being discharged from the hospital in Sydney, Iyer flew back to India to begin his rehab.
The 31-year-old finally made his return to competitive cricket in January with the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He played in Mumbai's clash against Himachal Pradesh and then featured in the match against Punjab as well. He then made his international return with the ODI series against New Zealand and scored 49 runs in the first ODI.
Iyer on the injury
Iyer described the spleen injury as "excruciatingly painful" and said that he didn't realise that bit was a very serious injury at first. He understood that it was a major blow when he was taken to the hospital.
“It was painful, excruciatingly painful. I didn’t realise how tough that injury was until I got to know that the spleen is an important part of our body and it’s an organ and I didn’t even know about the word," Iyer told broadcasters ahead of 2nd ODI.
“Then the next day when I was admitted to the hospital, after that I realised, ‘Wow, okay, this was a severe injury.’ Yes, it was (spleen was learnt as a new word that day)," he added.
Meanwhile, Iyer has looked to be solid at the crease ever since he has made his return to competitive cricket. He first played a superb knock of 82 against Himachal Pradesh before scoring 45 against Punjab. He then played a robust inning of 49 in the first ODI against New Zealand to help India reach the 301-run target.
Iyer out for cheap in 2nd ODI
However, he wasn't able to keep up the good performances in the second ODI and got dismissed for just eight runs by Kristian Clarke. Iyer failed to hit any boundaries during his short stay the crease and the fall of his wicket left India at 115/3 in the 22nd over of their innings.