IND vs PAK: Shreyas Iyer’s fresh injury scare as he misses crucial India vs Pakistan game: In the lead-up to the highly anticipated India vs Pakistan game in the Asia Cup 2023 Super 4s, all the concerns were just around the weather that had played spoilsport multiple times in the ongoing tournament. The discussions were around the forecast which indicated rain, rain and even more rain.
However, as soon as the toss was about to take place on Sunday, Indian Captain Rohit Sharma informed that the team had a new concern as they made a few changes to the playing 11.
One change was Jasprit Bumrah’s inclusion in place of Mohammad Shami, the other being Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion, which was a forced one. Shreyas Iyer suffered back spasms and the Indian management had to bring in KL Rahul in place of Shreyas Iyer at number 4 position.
Notably, the fresh injury scare to Shreyas Iyer is a big trouble for the Indian team as the cricketer had just recovered from a back injury and made a comeback to the side.
Post his recovery, Shreyas had just featured in just two international games against Pakistan and Nepal respectively. His outing against Pakistan, on September 2nd, was a brief one as he could survive only 9 deliveries, thereby scoring 14 runs. Owing to heavy rain showers, there was no second innings possible in the game. Against Nepal, Shreyas didn’t get the opportunity to come out and bat, but he fielded the entire time.
Moreover, in between India’s next game and the last game against Nepal, the players had a 5-day break. So there is never a workload management issue for him right now.
Despite all this, at the last moment ahead of the IND vs PAK game, Shreyas’ complaint of a back spasm is a huge blow for India. The injury might indicate that the batter is not yet 100 per cent fit to play regularly at the highest level, though, he has been cleared to play by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) medical staff.
IND vs PAK: It’s unfortunate for Shreyas Iyer, says Manjrekar
Prior to India’s game against Pakistan, former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar expressed his disappointment at Shreyas’ fresh injury and indicated that the team might look ahead if the injury concerns are persistent.
“I am just intrigued by Shreyas Iyer’s fitness if that’s the case. He has had a long layoff. The big story was Shreyas Iyer is fit nowadays, he played the first two games. He looked good in that game against Pakistan and scored 20-odd runs. And now he has got a back spasm,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports.
“You know you have got to start looking at players if they are going to be such an issue for the captain, the team management. They have been so patient, waiting for him to come back in the first match,” he added.
“He was there for the second game. But he has missed out due to back spasms. That’s unfortunate, it’s a forced change,” he added.
For more details head to ICC’s official website.
