Shreyas Iyer’s back injury is apparently not very serious but concerns remain over his availability for India’s final Super 4 match against Bangladesh on Friday as the national selection committee will name the squad for the three-match series against Australia. Iyer, who has returned after a long break and back surgery to heal his stress fracture, played against Pakistan and Nepal in the group stages before withdrawing from the match against the arch-rivals at the eleventh hour and complaining. spasms. A clearer picture will emerge during the optional pre-match training in Bangladesh on Thursday.
Those in the know said there appears to be “some degree of stiffness” which will certainly affect his movements during field work, but they are hopeful it will not prove to be very serious.
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is expected to announce the roster for the Australian series sometime during the week. It could be on the day of the match in Bangladesh or ahead of the Asia Cup final on Sunday.
Although the provisional World Cup squad has been announced, the Indian team management will be concerned about Iyer’s fitness and if he misses the Australia series, he would be really short of match practice, with only two warm-up matches to go before the first match against Australia. in Chennai on October 8.
KL Rahul has put an end to all fitness concerns with his 100 and 39 in the two Super 4 matches and while he initially looked a bit rusty staying with Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja, he regained a lot of confidence after collecting a few.
Ishan Kishan is now a designated outfielder and it remains to be seen whether Iyer, if fit, replaces Kishan in the final Super 4 match against Bangladesh.
Kishan, despite having a great run in the recent ODIs, seemed to struggle on slow tracks but to be fair, none of the batters, barring skipper Rohit Sharma and to some extent Rahul, looked comfortable against Dunith’s left-arm spin Wellalage.
Traveling reserve Sanju Samson has returned home and Tilak Verma would join the Asian Games camp after the end of this tournament.
Possibly, Tilak, being a southpaw, could beat a more experienced Sanju in the worst case scenario where he cannot recover in time. But with two weeks left (September 27) to announce the final squad, every stakeholder in Indian cricket will have their fingers crossed.
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