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Hours after quitting India A captaincy and leaving the camp in Lucknow, midway through the red-ball series against Australia A, Shreyas Iyer reportedly wrote to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seeking a ‘break’ from the format. Iyer explained that familiar issues troubled him during the first unofficial India A game, and hence withdrew his name from contention for a spot in the Indian team for the upcoming Test series against West Indies at home next month.
Iyer was named the India A captain for the two-match red-ball series against Australia A, with the aim of gearing him up for the home contest against the West Indies. The international fixture, slated to begin early next month, would have marked his return to Test cricket for the first time since he was dropped midway through the home series against England in February 2024. However, he pulled out of the second game against Australia A, and according to a report in The Indian Express, after consulting with the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, he wrote to the BCCI making a formal plea.
The report revealed that he told the selectors that “he is facing stiffness in his back and his body cannot take the toll of the red ball cricket anymore.” He said that, given his condition, he can’t take the field for more than four days, and that he now wants to take a break and recuperate until his body is ready for red-ball cricket. Iyer also told the selectors that the issue remained last year as well, but he had managed to take a break between overs during Ranji Trophy matches, but couldn’t do the same during India A matches or international fixtures.
“He has informed us that he (Iyer) will be taking a break from red ball cricket and it’s good that he has cleared it out because selectors are now clear about his future. He won’t be playing red ball cricket in coming months and he has informed the board that he will assess his body in future in consultation with physios and trainer and take a call on it,” a source confirmed.
This is not the first time that Iyer has been troubled by back issues. Earlier, he had reportedly sought medical help after being dropped from the India squad during the England Test series at home last year, and hence told the Mumbai Cricket Association that he wouldn’t be able to play in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals. However, the issue snowballed into a major controversy after Nitin Patel, then head of sports science and medicine at the National Cricket Academy, informed the selectors that Iyer was carrying ‘no fresh injury’ and that he was ‘fit’.
With BCCI having released a mandate for all players on contract to participate in domestic cricket competitions when not on national team duty, Iyer’s act left them fuming. The batter was later left out of BCCI’s central contract list.
