India batter and KKR captain Shreyas Iyer is running against time to get fitter by half-way stage of IPL 2023 and be available for the World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final. As per a report, Shreyas has checked into National Cricket Academy (NCA) Bengaluru and has started working on his rehab. The recurring back injury has been a big trouble for Shreyas for a while. He was declared unfit for the New Zealand ODIs. He joined the Team India squad ahead of the Australia Test series. However, the back injury came back to hurt him ahead of the last Test in Ahmedabad.
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Shreyas is now aiming to be available for the WTC final in June and the ODI World Cup 2023 schedule to to take place in October-November in India, reported Cricbuzz.
"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 close to Iyer was quoted as saying.
___ _____ ____ has arrived! _#AmiKKR #TATAIPL2023 pic.twitter.com/xVM84MSRJR
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 30, 2023
Shreyas's absence is a big blow to KKR's campaign, who have named Nitish Rana as the interim captain. KKR coach Chandrakant Pandit hopes Shreyas is available for at least the latter half of IPL 2023. Speaking to Cricbuzz, he said, "Shreyas's 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."
Pandit, however, also said that KKR have found an able leader in form of Rana and that he has confidence in his leadership skills. Rana too is very upbeat about his captaincy stint with KKR, saying he is not overthinking about it.
"I have been playing a leadership role in this franchise for a few years. It's just that the tag is of a captain this time. And if I take extra pressure over a tag, then my game can potentially get ruined," said Rana.
