India’s Shreyas Iyer ruled out of 1st Test against Australia, Ravindra Jadeja clears fitness test
The Indian cricket team has been dealt a setback before the start of the Test series against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2022-23 with their middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer being ruled out for the first Test starting on February 9 in Nagpur. Shreyas Iyer has been at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore, trying to recover from a stiff back injury but he will need more time to prove his fitness and join the Indian squad.
However, the team has been boosted with the return and availability of star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, not only to his match fitness in the Ranji trophy playing the contest between Saurashtra and Tamil Nadu, but also cleared his remaining fitness test at NCA in Bangalore after the match.
“Ravindra Jadeja’s fitness report is fine and he will be available for the selection for Test match versus Australia,” Sports Tak quoted a source as saying.
Ravindra Jadeja had made a successful comeback to top-flight cricket taking a 7-wicket haul for Saurashtra against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy. He is now available for the Indian training camp to be held in Nagpur ahead of the four-match Test series against Australia.
On the other hand, it has been reported by ESPNcricinfo that she is Iyer, who returned to Bangalore on Wednesday to get his fitness clearance from the NCA was told that he needs to spend some more time in rehab to recover from the back injury which kept him away from the ODI series against New Zealand.
Shreyas Iyer had reported swelling in his back after the conclusion of the two-match Test series in Bangladesh in December wherein he played a crucial role in India’s victory. He was expected to travel from Bangalore to Nagpur and join the Indian squad for the camp but he will now remain at the NCA until he is cleared.
The right-handed middle order batsman Shreyas Iyer is now expected to join the Indian squad for the second Test to be played at the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi from February 17.
India’s squad for the 1st Test vs Australia: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav