Delhi Daredevils batsman Shreyas Iyer is set to miss the first few games of IPL 2017. The 22-year old Iyer is suffering from chickenpox, as reported by Wisden India, and won’t take part in the starting few matches of Daredevils’ IPL 10 campaign.
The Mumbai-born batsman was recently called in as cover for the injured Virat Kohli for the concluding Test of the recent India-Australia series in Dharamsala. Although Iyer didn’t get to play in the first team, it was his first Test call-up.
Iyer joins a long list of Indians who aren’t fit to take part in the IPL. Indian captain Virat Kohli leads the list, with Team India stars like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay and KL Rahul also out of the IPL for different periods of the tournament.
Iyer grabbed eyeballs two years ago, when he was bought by the Delhi Daredevils franchise for a whopping Rs. 2.6 crore. He made the opportunity count, winning the Emerging Player of the Year tournament after accumulating 439 runs from 14 matches.
Coach Rahul Dravid had mentioned Iyer as one of the young players to look forward to in the tournament: “We have guys like Karun, Sanju, Shreyas and Tare, Rishabh. We will also look to strategise better and give the younger players a good opportunity.”
Last year, however, Iyer couldn’t live up to the expectations, managing a meagre 30 runs from six games at an average of 5.00. His strike rate also fell below the 70 mark.
Iyer was part of the India U-19 Team in 2014, although he didn’t get to play much: his appearances in the tournament were restricted to just three matches. He was drafted into the Mumbai Ranji team, and his promotion up the order proved to be a master stroke: he ended the season as the team’s leading run-getter with 809 runs to his name.
Iyer scored 1231 runs in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy, becoming just the second player to amass more than 1300 runs in a single Ranji season.
The Delhi franchise is already battling with injuries: Quinton de Kock might not play a single match for the side, while JP Duminy, a regular feature of the Delhi outfit, pulled out of the tournament for personal reasons.
The Daredevils play their opening game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 8.
Watch: Shreyas Iyer’s quickfire knock against CSK in IPL 2015 (Video Courtesy: Star Sports)
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