Team India is likely to play the Asia Cup 2023 without their star batter Shreyas Iyer, as it has been reported that the cricketer might miss the forthcoming mega tournament. Iyer suffered a back injury during the final Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy and has been out of action since then. The middle-order batter underwent surgery in London in April and was expected to make a return in the Asia Cup, slated to be hosted in the months of August and September.
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But as per reports by the Times of India, the 28-year-old cricketer is unlikely to make his return to the squad by then. The injury he suffered is still troubling him and his still recovering at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. Iyer has been one of India’s most consistent batters in ODIs since 2019, and the team would highly rely on him during the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. Apart from him, Jasprit Bumrah, who was also suffering from a back issue, is on his road to recovery for the World Cup.
According to the reports by Cricbuzz, the right-arm pacer will be back in India’s T20I series against Ireland, as management wants him to play T20 games first before moving to the ODI games. If things go fine, and Bumrah is fit to play, he will lead India’s pace attack in the ODI World Cup 2023.
In addition, India is also currently without the services of KL Rahul. The 31-year-old cricketer suffered a hamstring injury during the Indian Premier League 2023 and underwent surgery in the UK. Rahul is on his road to recovery; however, there are no updates about whether he would play for India during the Asia Cup 2023.
Notably, the upcoming tournament that Pakistan was set to host will now be jointly hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka from 31 August to 17 September.
