Shreyas Iyer Injury Update: MCA Eyes His Availability for Later Vijay Hazare Matches

Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar said the association will talk to India batter Shreyas Iyer about whether he will be available for the later matches of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. Iyer has been at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) since December 25 for further assessment of his recovery from a serious spleen injury suffered during the third ODI against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in October.

“No, we have not spoken to Shreyas yet. But we will speak to him about his availability. As of now, there is no official confirmation on this. But it may come in the next few days from him,” Khanvilkar told IANS on Sunday.

MCA to discuss Shreyas Iyer’s availability as he nears return from injury

A day before reaching the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, IANS reported that Iyer had started batting again after doing light gym training. He practiced batting for around 30–34 minutes at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) nets in Mumbai. A source tracking Iyer's recovery said if all goes well and the clearance from CoE comes, Iyer could play for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches in Jaipur on January 3 and 6, respectively.

It would be interesting to see if the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee picks Iyer in the squad for three ODIs against New Zealand, starting in Vadodara on January 11. The Agarkar-led panel is set to meet to select the squad in the first week of January.

“The progress of Shreyas in CoE has been good so far. He's targeting maybe the last two Vijay Hazare Trophy games to return to playing action. It's up to selectors now to decide on his return to the ODI team,” further said the source.