IPL 2023: KKR Face Early Setback as Shreyas Iyer is Expected to Miss Half of Tournament
Shreyas Iyer has also been ruled out of the upcoming ODI series against Australia.
Shreyas Iyer, who missed the final Test against Australia at Ahmedabad due to back injury is set to miss the entire ODI series against Australia. To add to his woes, he is also expected to miss the first half of the 2023 season of the Indian Premier League.
According to a report by Times of India, Shreyas Iyer is expected to be out of action until the end of April due to a recurring back injury. This injury had previously kept him out of the ODI series against New Zealand and the first test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
The report further added that Shreyas Iyer is presently undergoing recovery at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. Notably, he had been named in the playing XI for the fourth Test, but he couldn’t field or bat owing to swelling in his back.
During the post-match conference following the Ahmedabad Test, Indian captain Rohit Sharma gave an update on Shreyas Iyer’s injury, stating that it would likely keep him out of action for a prolonged period of time. Here is what Rohit Sharma said:
“Poor guy. It just was such an unfortunate incident. He had to wait all day (second 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.”
Who will lead KKR in absence of Shreyas Iyer?
The Kolkata Knight Riders signed Shreyas Iyer for INR 12 Crore in the mega auction 2022 and made him their captain. However, KKR failed to reach the playoffs under his leadership last season, and his injury has further compounded their problems.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Squad for IPL 2023:
Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Shakib Al Hasan.
