India's player Shreyas Iyer expressed that he mentioned his concerns about back problems during the "longer format" games post the 2023 ODI World Cup, but received no support.
During the ODI World Cup last year, Iyer scored 530 runs at an average of 66.25, including three fifties and two centuries, making him India's third-highest run-scorer.
Post the World Cup, Iyer faced a challenging period in his career, grappling with back injuries and a loss of form in Test cricket, resulting in a series of low scores in the South Africa tour and the England home series. Iyer was eventually removed from the Test squad, and he supposedly took a break to heal from an injury before making a comeback in Ranji Trophy cricket. While he was back, the BCCI also did not consider him for a central contract.
Before the IPL 2024 final, the captain of KKR mentioned that he had brought up his worries about the matter related to his back issue, but nobody paid attention.
"I was definitely struggling after the World Cup in the longer format, when I raised my concern, no one was agreeing to it. But at the same time, my competition is with myself. When IPL was approaching, all I wanted to see to it that I could put my best foot forward and whatever planning or strategising we did before, we executed it to the best of our abilities. The transformation from red-ball cricket to white-ball is difficult as a batsman, but once you get used to it, you match with the other teams", Iyer added while addressing a pre-match press conference before the IPL final.
Shreyas will now lead KKR into their 4th IPL final against SRH today evening.