Iyer has been struggling with a back injury for some time now. He missed a limited-overs fixture against Bangladesh in December last year due to the same injury, and then had to withdraw from the final Test match against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. He was subsequently ruled out of the three-match ODI contest against Australia at home.
Iyer experienced swelling in his lower back on both occasions, which led to shooting pain in the calf. He was hoping to recover through medication and had been training at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore under the supervision of BCCI’s medical staff. KKR were also hoping for Iyer’s return for the second half of the IPL season. However, he was unable to train at the NCA, and therefore will travel abroad for surgery and recovery, which could take more than three months.
Following Iyer’s injury, KKR named Nitish Rana as their new captain. The team will be looking to capitalise on home advantage as they play their second IPL 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 6. KKR suffered a seven-run defeat via DLS method against Punjab Kings in a rain-affected match in Mohali last week.
In another setback, RCB top-order batter Rajat Patidar has been ruled out of the entire IPL season due to an Achilles heel injury, the team announced on April 4.
RCB released a statement stating that Rajat Patidar has been excluded from IPL 2023 owing to an Achilles heel injury. The team expressed its support for Patidar’s swift recovery and declared that they have not yet decided on a substitute player, as per the coaches and management’s decision.
