Shreyas Iyer to explore options for back treatment, won’t undergo surgery right now

The right-handed middle-order Indian batsmen and the captain for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Shreyas Iyer, will not immediately undergo surgery to his back and will rather explore his options before taking a final call. 

Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of at least the first half of IPL 2023 in which he was expected to captain Kolkata Knight Riders once again, leaving the two-time title winners with the headache of finding a new leader close to the start of the tournament which is about a week away from now.

According to reports, while again has opted out of surgery for recovering lower back injury, the right-handed batsman has been advised rest as he continues his recovery which might take a lot of time given that the course of treatment is yet to be finalised. 

The back injury which had hampered Shreyas Iyer in the past, returned to haunt him again during the recently concluded Test series between India and Australia in which he was ruled out of the final Test in Ahmedabad and also could not participate in the three-match ODI series.

Shreyas Iyer is an integral part of the Indian cricket team especially in white-ball cricket where he has made plenty of runs. His absence, especially with any particular timeline for it done, has certainly hampered India’s plans as they have just a limited number of one-day international matches before the start of the 50-over World Cup which they will be hosting later on in this year in October-November.

Shreyas Iyer first experienced the pain in his back during the tour of Bangladesh little last year and was ruled out of the ODI series at home against New Zealand and even at the first Test against Australia at Nagpur. 

Even though he returned for the next two matches against Australia in New Delhi and Indore, Shreyas Iyer had to miss out from the remainder of the fourth and final test in Ahmedabad since he was experiencing pain and could not come out to bat.

After coming back home, Shreyas Iyer consulted a spine surgeon in Mumbai where he was presented with two options, but the first being rest and recovery and then gradually build up strength and mobility. 

The second option was that if the first route does not work, you will have to go under the knife. The BCCI medical staff even consulted a London-based specialist who had in the past treated Hardik Pandya for a similar issue, keeping him as the second option.

Shreyas Iyer has now informed the BCCI’s medical staff that he wants to explore his options before taking a final call on the surgery. The young batsmen has received complete support from the Kolkata Knight Riders management who are now scrambling to find a new captain for the IPL 2023 tournament.

The names that have come forth for the leadership role at KKR aur India batsman Nitish Rana, West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine and even Andre Russell, the two players who have been an integral part of Kolkata Knight Riders campaign for the last decade or so.