- By Namrata Vijay
- Wed, 14 Jan 2026 04:55 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs NZ 2nd ODI: India's star batter Shreyas Iyer fell badly as he was trying to take a catch in the ODI series against Australia last year. He dove and took the catch, but sustained a career-threatening injury, where it was reported that his vitals had dropped alarmingly in the dressing room, and he was then taken to a hospital.
He underwent a procedure that helped to stop the bleeding, and later it was revealed that he had sustained a spleen injury. After spending several days in Sydney, he returned for his rehab.
Iyer returned to competitive cricket at the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he smashed a fifty and then made a brilliant comeback for the national side and helped the team win the 1st ODI against New Zealand by 4 wickets.
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Iyer, who has now recovered fully, talked about this fatal injury before the ongoing match against New Zealand.
“It was painful, excruciatingly painful. I didn’t realise how tough that injury was until I got to know that the spleen is an important part of our body and it’s an organ, and I didn’t even know about the word," Iyer said.
“Then the next day, when I was admitted to the hospital, after that I realised, ‘Wow, okay, this was a severe injury.’ Yes, it was (spleen was learnt as a new word that day)," he added.
He admitted that it was tough to be patient and tried not to over-exert himself when he was recovering.
“This process, I felt that I had to give myself a little bit of time not to over-exert myself because I’m someone who can’t sit in one place. I want to keep doing one thing or another," he added.
“But this injury especially gave me time to reflect upon myself, rejuvenate, and also relax as much as possible because it’s not that you can get up and start working out straight away. You need to give yourself a lot of time, and I was told that within six to eight weeks, you will be back to normal, and then you can start training. So I just followed the proper guidelines, which I was provided with, and then after that it was a smooth sailing ride," he concluded.