Shreyas Iyer aims to recover from back injury before WTC final: Report

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Shreyas Iyer, who earlier decided not to undergo surgery for his back injury, has reported to National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for treatment and recovery. The 28-year-old batter, who missed the ODI series against Australia after playing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, has set his sight on recovery before the World Test Championships (WTC) final in June, reported Cricbuzz.

Iyer's, who would have been out for six months at least if he went under the knife, recovery from the injury during the period will be determined by assessment of the NCA staff. The WTC final against Australia is slated from June 7 in London while Team India will leave for England after the Indian Premier League final on May 21. This gives Shrey Iyer about seven-week time to prove his fitness to BCCI.

"He has met the specialist and the NCA officials. All are on the same page that the operation can be deferred. He will follow the experts' advice," a source told Cricbuzz.

Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders are hopeful that Iyer, who led the franchise last year, will return at some stage of the tournament. "Shreyas' absence will make a difference since he is important, but this is truly unfortunate. We are hoping Shreyas will be back very soon and that will make a lot of difference to the team," coach Chandrakant Pandit said on Tuesday.

Iyer was bought for Rs 12.25 crore at the IPL 2022 Auction by the franchise and was immediately named the captain. KKR finished seventh in the points table with 12 points (four points away from play-off spots or top four). Iyer was the team's highest run-getter with 401 runs in 14 games while slamming three half-centuries.