"I went into the dressing room and cried; couldn't understand how it happened" - Shreyas Iyer talks through his injury and recovery

Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer has talked through his journey through suffering a major on-field injury in March and the subsequent recovery process.

Iyer revealed he broke down immediately after returning to the dressing room in Pune and it took him some more time to entirely digest the turn of events.

Shreyas Iyer dislocated his left shoulder during the first India-England ODI on March 24. He underwent surgery soon after and missed the rest of the series and the first half of the IPL 2021.

He regained full fitness a couple of weeks back and is now in the UAE, girding for the second half of the season with the Delhi Capitals.

"Currently, I am feeling amazing, the journey was awesome, to be honest. I never hesitated for a while but right after the injury, I was sulking a bit and I didn't know exactly what to do. I went into the dressing room and cried and it took me a while to digest it but yeah, at the end of the day, you need to go through all of it.

"It's a setback and you just have to push and come back strong. When I realized, I had to go under the knife, it was pretty hard to digest. The way I was training prior to the injury, I was at the highest level, at the peak and suddenly this freak injury happened," Shreyas Iyer told Sports Today's YouTube channel in an interview.

In a parallel universe, which of our DC stars do you think could excel professionally in sports other than cricket? 🤩💬#NationalSportsDay #YehHaiNayiDilli pic.twitter.com/pgvSTegadX

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) August 29, 2021

Shreyas Iyer also talked about how family's support and his own optimism helped him turn the page without losing hope midway.

"I couldn't understand how it happened but yeah, I mean it's part and parcel of atheletes' careers and I just accepted it. I also had to understand that it was going to be a tough time.

"I needed my family and friends to be around me because some of them (who get injured like this) go into depression, I have seen that in the past, but I was very confident and positive that everything is going to be successful."

No rest days for me now, really looking forward to the IPL and T20 World Cup: Shreyas Iyer

EXCLUSIVE | "It's always you vs you. I don't compare myself to others"@ShreyasIyer15 opens up about recovery from injury, plans for #IPL2021, #T20WorldCup and dreams of playing Test cricket. | @BoriaMajumdar Watch: https://t.co/V4khZCDD8Y

— Sports Today (@SportsTodayofc) August 29, 2021

Looking ahead, Shreyas Iyer said his aim is now to perform on the biggest stages - the IPL and the T20 World Cup - without any rest days.

"I personally feel it's a great opportunity for me, especially after coming back from injury, to play in the IPL and then the World Cup. These are the two biggest stages for an Indian cricketer and we have always dreamed of being a part of such an amazing team.

"All these moments in the last four months have helped me fuel and propel my mindset to keep working harder, smarter and have no rest days for me at this point of time. I am really looking forward to the matches I am going to play right now and I am sure it's going to be really awesome," Shreyas Iyer added.

While the decision on his captaincy is still awaited, Delhi Capitals will play their first match of the UAE leg against Sunrisers Hyderabad on September 22 in Dubai.