Rohit Sharma Provides Update On Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer Ahead Of Australia ODIs

Following their victory in the Asia Cup 2023, India captain Rohit Sharma revealed on Sunday that batter Shreyas Iyer is nearing full fitness, rating him as "99 per cent" match-ready, signalling his probable availability for upcoming matches. However, the captain anticipates that Axar Patel will be absent for the first two ODIs against Australia later this month. Iyer was featured in just one game of the Asia Cup -against Pakistan- and then missed out after suffering back spasms. Even though Iyer was injured for a large portion of the Asia Cup, he has accomplished most of the goals the team management had set for him as he recovered and tried to demonstrate his match fitness for the World Cup, which is now less than three weeks away.

"Shreyas was not available for this game [final] because there were certain parameters that were kept for him to tick off. Today, he completed most of it. I would say 99% he should be okay as of now, but he looks good. He batted, he fielded for long hours before we came in today So, he's looking good at this point in time. I don't think it's a worry for us," Rohit said in a post-match press conference.

Axar was forced to withdraw from the final game after injuring his left quadriceps during India's final Super Four match against Bangladesh on Friday. Washington Sundar, who had been brought in from Bengaluru just the day before, took his spot in the starting lineup.

"Axar - I'm not sure, he had a small tear. It looks like maybe [unavailable] a week or ten days. We just have to wait and see how the injury progresses. Because every individual is different; some guys recover quickly. I hope that's the case with Axar, so we'll wait and see what happens with him. Obviously, am not too sure if he'll