The status of Shreyas Iyer's injury is puzzling.
The batter, who was dropped for the three Tests against England, had complained of back spasms during the second Test and was consequently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
Citing back pain, Shreyas had informed the Mumbai Cricket Association on Tuesday, February 20, that he was unavailable for selection for the Mumbai-Baroda Ranji Trophy quarter-final game which begins in Mumbai on Friday.
Now in an interesting turn of events, the Indian Express newspaper has reported that Nitin Patel, the head of sports science and medicine at the National Cricket Academy, in an e-mail to BCCI selectors, confirmed that Iyer was 'fit'.
Patel in his e-mail, wrote: 'Shreyas Iyer was fit and available for selection as per the handover report of the Indian team after the 2nd Test match against England. There are currently no fresh injuries reported as well after his departure from Team India.'
Shreyas scored 35, 13, 27 and 39 in the first two Tests against England and was subsequently dropped for the last three Test matches.
Shreyas had missed last year's IPL because of a back injury and made a comeback during the Asia Cup. Thereafter, he scored heavily in the ODI World Cup at home, hitting 530 runs at an average of 66.25.
