India vs Australia: Shreyas Iyer ruled out from the First Test

Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out from the first test of India vs Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting from 9th February in Nagpur. Iye returned to Bengaluru on Wednesday to get fitness clearance from the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He was told to spend more time in rehab to recover from the back injury that had ruled him out of the recent ODIs against New Zealand.

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Iyer played the two-Test series in Bangladesh in December. He had swelling in his lower back. He originally expected to travel from Bengaluru to Nagpur and join the India squad. Iyer will join the Indian squad before 17th February for the second test.

Iyer was one of the contenders for a middle-order batter's slot along with Shubman Gill and KL Rahul. He has played 7 Test matches so far with an average of 56.72 at a healthy strike rate of 65. Iyer made his Test debut against New Zealand in Kanpur in November 2021. He was also the second-highest scorer for India against Bangladesh with 202 runs in three innings. Iyer's absence might give all-rounder Suryakumar Yadav the chance to make his Test debut.

India vs Australia: India's squad for the 1st Test: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav