Will KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer be available for IPL 2023?

Team India batter and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Shreyas Iyer could be out of action for 4-5 months, as he's likely to undergo a back surgery. The 28-year-old was ruled out of the ongoing one-day series against Australia at home due to a recurring lower back injury.

The middle-order batter had earlier missed the white-ball series against New Zealand in January and the first Test of the series against Australia in Nagpur due to the same injury. After playing the next two Tests, he did not bat in the final Test in Ahmedabad due to a recurrence of the back injury.

According to The Times of India, Shreyas looks set to miss the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League and the World Test Championship final at The Oval in June due to his back surgery.

Team India will hope that he's fit for the ODI World Cup, which will be held in India in October-November. A source was quoted as saying by TOI:

"Iyer has been advised to go for surgery. He is keen to get operated by a specialist in London, but if there is a decent option in India, then the surgery could take place here also.”

The report added that the cricketer had consulted a doctor who treats spine complications and is an expert with Bombay and Lilavati hospitals in Mumbai.

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What Rohit Sharma said about Shreyas Iyer’s back injury after Ahmedabad Test?

Speaking about the recurrence of Shreyas’ back injury, Indian captain Rohit Sharma admitted after the Ahmedabad Test that things were not looking good. He said:

“Poor guy. It just 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.

“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.”

Suryakumar Yadav has been batting in the middle order in Shreyas’ absence in the ongoing one-day series against Australia. However, he was dismissed for golden ducks in the first two ODIs by Mitchell Starc.