Shreyas Iyer To Miss India Vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 Match, BCCI Gives Update

KL Rahul who made a comeback from injury in the Asia Cup ODI vs Pakistan scored a century. He was picked in place of Shreyas Iyer who is down with a back injury.

Shreyas Iyer. (Source: ANI)

In what could be a big blow to Team India ahead of the Asia Cup 2023 Super  4 clash vs Sri Lanka at Colombo, batter Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the match. Iyer had missed the last match vs Pakistan due to back spasm. He has not recovered in time and is set to miss the second Super 4 match of Team India against the defending champions, informed BCCI on X (formerly Twitter). Iyer is being monitored by  the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as well as National Cricket Academy staff present in Sri Lanka. It is confirmed now that the star batter is not available for selection for Sri Lanka match.

"Shreyas Iyer is feeling better but is yet to fully recover from back spasms. He has been adviced rest by the BCCI Medical Team and has not travelled with the team to the stadium today for India's Super 4 match against Sri Lanka," wrote BCCI on X.

India captain Rohit Sharma sent a shockwaves when he announced that Iyer was not playing the Pakistan match. It was due to a back spasm that surfaced during team's warm-up session. At the presentation ceremony, Rohit said that the decision to include KL Rahul in place of Iyer was taken five minutes before the toss. 

UPDATE - Shreyas Iyer is feeling better but is yet to fully recover from back spasms. He has been adviced rest by the BCCI Medical Team and has not travelled with the team to the stadium today for India's Super 4 match against Sri Lanka.#AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/iIDJEWZBea

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 12, 2023

"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.

Another interesting thing to watch out for will be the playing XI. India played Pakistan for two consecutive days in the Super 4 clash that was forced to be played across two days thanks to the rain interruptions. The team management will have to be cautious with the selection. Iyer's injury is already a big blow to India with ODI World Cup 2023 less than 30 days to go.

India also need a win to move closer to the final on September 17. Mohammed Shami, who could replace Bumrah, is also a quality bowler. India should go with Siraj and Bumrah as the two pacers for Sri Lanka game, and maybe try Shami in the Bangladesh match.

Playing his first cricket match since getting injured during IPL 2023, Rahul said that he took his time to settle in the crease. "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.

India's Probable XI vs Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj