In a major blow to Kolkata Knight Riders, Shreyas Iyer is expected to miss the first-half of the upcoming IPL 2023 season where he is set to lead the two time champions. Iyer, who had missed the ODIs against New Zealand and the first two Tests against Australia after suffering a lower back injury, made his comeback to the Indian side in the Indore Test. But in the fourth Test, Iyer complained of swelling in his back after fielding for 167 overs in Australia's first innings.
This led to him being taken to hospital for scans and led to him not coming out to bat in India's first innings. Iyer flew out of Ahmedabad even before the Test ended to get his back assessed. During the final Test, the BCCI informed in a statement that a "specialist's opinion will be sought" to treat Iyer's back. Now a source told the Times of India that Shreyas Iyer might be out of action for a long time. “He's definitely out of the IPL till April-end,” he said. Although Iyer may not miss out on the entire IPL season, he will be ruled out of the first few fixtures, forcing KKR to consider other captaincy options. Mystery spinner Sunil Narine has been a long-serving KKR player, having picked up 152 wickets for the franchise at a brilliant economy of 6.63 with a five-wicket haul to his name too. His contribution doesn’t end here, as he has mustered overall 1025 runs at a strike-rate of 162.7. Narine also has the experience of leading a team in other leagues too and this makes him a prime candidate to replace Iyer
