With his recent back ailment still bothering him,
Shreyas Iyer won’t likely play in Tuesday’s Asia Cup Super 4 match against Sri
Lanka. He is currently being watched remotely by the National Cricket Academy
(NCA) staff, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) managers, and the
Colombo-based team management. Sources say he won’t be available for the second
Super 4 game, though.
On Sunday, the first day of the squad’s two-day match
against Pakistan, a team representative disclosed that Shreyas Iyer had a back
spasm during warm-up. During the toss, captain Rohit Sharma revealed that the
problem was discovered during warm-up and that it had caused Iyer to sit out.
The captain later said that the choice to play KL Rahul was decided just five
minutes before the toss during the post-game presentation.
“And then KL, to return from injury and then find
out 5 minutes before the toss that he’s playing, and to perform the way he did,
it shows the mindset of the player,” Rohit said of Rahul, who replaced
Iyer in the playing XI against Pakistan. It is expected that Iyer will be
available for selection for the later games in the Asia Cup and there is no
plan to send him back at this stage.
Given that the team would be playing back-to-back
games for three days against Sri Lanka, there have been some talks about
resting some players. Iyer won’t be one of those substitutes, though. However,
signs point to the team management perhaps selecting the same starting lineup
as against Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Rahul reflected on his comeback innings,
stating that his initial nervousness disappeared after playing the first 10-15
balls. “Obviously, this is my first international match after a long time.
I played a couple of practice games, but we all know the intensity is not the
same. So when I walked in, I had that initial nervousness. It took me 10-15
balls to just calm myself down and get my feet moving, get my mind thinking of
the right things. Then, when I hit one or two boundaries, all those things, the
fogginess in your clarity, went away, and it became like before. I was looking
at the ball, looking at the situation, and you see what you have to do. But
just when I got my rhythm, it started raining,” Rahul, who scored an
unbeaten 111, told Star Sports.