Shreyas Iyer is set to miss the upcoming IPL 2023 season and the World Test Championship (WTC) as he prepares to undergo surgery on a back injury, per reports from ESPN.
The 28-year-old has an impinged nerve on the lower right side of his back, an injury which Iyer has been playing with since late last year.
The Kolkata Knight Riders captain is reportedly expected to travel overseas for the surgery and is facing up to three months on the sidelines, ruling him out of the entirety of the IPL competition which got underway on March 31. The Indian batter is also expected to miss the WTC in June.
Iyer managed to return for two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but was ruled out of play in Ahmedabad, then originally ruled out of the opening half of the IPL series.
Series W ๐ฎ๐ณ Onto the WTC final โ๏ธGutted to have missed out on the last few days but Iโll return stronger. Thank you for all the messages ๐ค pic.twitter.com/Td9M5qScBM
— Shreyas Iyer (@ShreyasIyer15) March 13, 2023
Iyer has played in seven Tests for India across his international career, making 624 runs, while the 28-year-old has managed 1,593 runs from 32 ODI appearances.
While there is no fixed date on Iyer's return to play, it has been reported by ESPNcricinfo that he will not return to training for at least three months.
The Kolkata Knight Riders have subsequently signed Jason Roy as a replacement player, with Roy having last played in the IPL in 2021, while the franchise has named Nitish Rana as the interim captain in Iyer's place.
