India batter Shreyas Iyer set to miss first Test against Australia

NAGPUR: India batter Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia starting February 9 in Nagpur, as ESPNcricinfo reported.

As per ESPNcricinfo, Iyer, who returned to Bengaluru on Wednesday to seek fitness clearance from the National Cricket Academy (NCA), was informed that he would need to spend extra time in rehab to recuperate from a back issue that had recently ruled him out of the ODIs against New Zealand.

Extending Iyer's rehabilitation, it is learned, is a precautionary measure adopted by the BCCI medical department. He is set to join the India squad for the second Test, which begins on February 17 in Delhi.

Iyer had returned to Mumbai after spending more than a week in recovery at the NCA. Iyer suffered swelling in his lower back after playing in the two-Test series against Bangladesh in December. He was supposed to fly from Bengaluru to Nagpur to join the India squad for the preparation camp, which began on February 2.

Iyer was picked to the 17-member squad for Australia's first two Tests. Iyer, along with Shubman Gill and KL Rahul, were contenders for a middle-order specialist batter's berth, depending on who opens with captain Rohit Sharma. The series is a big one for both teams as they look to nail down a spot in the World Test Championships (WTC) final. The series begins in Nagpur on February 9 with Tests in Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad.

India's Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vice-capt), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Suryakumar Yadav.