The biggest argument surrounding Shreyas Iyer’s absence from Ranji Trophy action after being dropped from the Indian Test side during the series against England, which cost him the BCCI contract, was his back injury.
While the board did not reveal any reason behind Iyer being removed from the Indian team, reports revealed that Iyer did not turn up for Mumbai’s next few Ranji Trophy games owing to a back spasm.
The confusion, however, arose with the National Cricket Academy declaring him fit, leading to the BCCI selection committee fuming at Iyer as the middle-order batter was later spotted at Kolkata Knight Riders Academy in Mumbai. However, a fresh report from the KKR camp revealed a different story.
Speaking to Revsportz, an insider explained that Iyer went to the KKR academy after being dropped from the Indian Test team to work on his injury, which was earlier mentioned by franchise coach Chandrakant Pandit as well. He further added that Mumbai Cricket Association were made aware of Iyer’s act and team head coach Omkar Salvi oftenvisited the camp to check on his progress.
“After playing 60 balls in a session, his back was building spasms. He had to build up his resistance. Now he is playing 200 balls per session. In three weeks, he has put on three kilos of muscles. The Mumbai Cricket Association and the Mumbai team head coach (Omkar Salvi) have been kept in the loop.
In fact, the Mumbai coach visited the KKR Academy several times to monitor Iyer’s progress. And now he has made himself available for the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Tamil Nadu,” the person told the website on anonymity.