The Indian cricket team suffered a major blow when they lost the series 2-1 against Australia after going down in Chepauk. It was a very rude awakening for India as Australia defended 269 and bundled India out for only 248. The hosts have been struggling with some major injury problems and it has been very costly for them.
After losing Jasprit Bumrah for sometime now, India recently suffered another blow when Shreyas Iyer decided to go for back surgery, which will keep him out of action for 3-4 months. Hence he will miss the entire IPL and also the WTF final. Iyer earlier did complain about back issues and finally have decided to get it operated. Whereas Risabh Pant ever since unfortunate incident have been making gradual progress. But he is far from coming back in action.
At the post-match press conference, Rohit Sharma admitted that injuries have hindered their growth as a team and the players who are out injured were integral part of their starting lineup. Hence it has been a challenge for them to bounce back in their absence.
Speaking on injuries, the Indian skipper said,”It is concerning. We are missing the players who are actually the playing XI players. Honestly, everyone’s trying their best to get everyone on the park. We’ve been focusing a lot on management of the players, which is why we have to rest certain players at certain point of time.”
The veteran assures that the specialists in the Indian team look to have everyone up and running ahead of the World Cup which is scheduled to happen later this year. However as a skipper he has no answer as to why these recurring injuries are happening to players.
“From our side, we could do our best in terms of handling them.” Rohit continued, “But, I am not a specialist to tell you why recurring injuries are happening. The medical team of ours is looking into all of this and making sure that, come the World Cup, we’ve got our best 15 players ready.”
The Indian skipper is not looking into these injuries with much detail. He feels that despite their best efforts injuries can occur and it is not something that they can control in the game. He shared how the players are also frustrated having not taken the field for months.
“Not looking too much into it. What’s in your hands, you can control that and we are just trying to control all of that. Players are frustrated as well. They want to play; they don’t want to miss out. It’s a little sad, but at the end of the day you cannot really do too much,” Rohit added.
Shreyas Iyer missed the limited overs series against New Zealand and was ruled out of the first Test against Australia. He returned for the next three but again was not available to bat in the last match in Ahmedabad. Iyer witnessed the return of his back injury concerns while he was getting ready to bat in the Ahmedabad Test.
“Freakish injuries can happen at any point of time. Shreyas was sitting the whole day. He just went to take a knock and the injury happened,” Rohit concluded.
Iyer will be a huge miss for Kolkata Knight Riders as he was their captain and star Indian batter in the middle. He is also a very crucial part of the ODI team and with the World Cup around the corner, India needs Iyer to return to the lineup and fire big. Overall injuries have hindered India’s growth massively in all formats and it will be a challenge for the skipper and the team management to find players who could replace them with responsibility.
