A day after Test-capped Shreyas Iyer informed the Mumbai Cricket Association that he was not available for selection for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals, Nitin Patel, the head of sports science and medicine at the National Cricket Academy, in an email to selectors, confirmed that there was ‘no fresh injury’ reports and he was ‘fit’.
According to Mumbai Cricket Association sources, Shreyas Iyer had cited back pain as a reason for sitting out of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal game versus Baroda, which begins on Friday. But Patel in his email, which was seen by The Indian Express, 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.”
Last week BCCI secretary Jay Shah had warned centrally-contracted and India A cricketers that non-participation in domestic cricket would have ‘severe implications’. Wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan, who pulled out of the Test tour of South Africa citing ‘personal reasons’ did not play Jharkhand’s final group game against Rajasthan.
The national selectors, after taking inputs from the BCCI medical team, told Shreyas to play Ranji Trophy so that his back gets used to the strain of batting and being on the field for an extended period of time.
