Replacement named as India batter ruled out of New Zealand ODIs

Iyer will miss the three ODIs due to a back injury. The batter will now head to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for further assessment. The Mumbai batter has been a crucial part of the India Test and ODI setup in recent months.

He played a starring role in India’s Test series win over Bangladesh in December last year, scoring a resilient 87 and 29* at Mirpur to help India win the deciding game. He also played a part in the 3-0 ODI series win against Sri Lanka which finished on January 15.

Iyer’s career has seen its fair share of injuries. In 2021, he suffered from a shoulder injury in March which forced him out of action for the next few months.

Rajat Patidar has been named as his replacement. The Madhya Pradesh batter is uncapped at the international level but had a breakthrough IPL season last year. He also scored 186 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022/23 at a strike rate of 122.36.

**India squad:**Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Rajat Patidar, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik.