'I didn’t realise how...': Shreyas Iyer on the injury that changed his career

Shreyas Iyer recently opened up about the serious spleen injury he suffered during the third ODI against Australia in Sydney, last year. He said he did not realise how serious it was at first and only understood the severity after being taken to the hospital. He described the pain as extremely intense (excruciatingly painful). Despite the setback, he made a strong return to international cricket, scoring 49 runs in India’s first ODI win against New Zealand in Vadodara.

Speaking about the injury, Iyer said the pain was unbearable and that he had never even heard much about the spleen before. It was only after doctors explained that the spleen is an important organ that he realised how serious the injury was.

“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.

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Iyer further spoke about how recovery was mentally challenging. He said that even though he naturally likes to stay busy and keep moving, he had to consciously slow down and allow his body enough time to recover.

“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 said.

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The 31-year-old added that the injury forced him to pause and think, which helped him to rest and refresh his mind. He said his return to training went well because he followed the recovery advice and allowed himself the full six to eight weeks needed to heal.

“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 added.