Ahead of India’s 3-match ODI series against New Zealand, the Men in Blue received a huge blow on Tuesday, January 17 as Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the series because of a back injury. He has been replaced in the squad by RCB batter Rajat Patidar. He will be heading to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for further management.

“Team India batter Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the upcoming 3-match ODI series against New Zealand due to a back injury,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.

Patidar plays for Madhya Pradesh in the domestic circuit and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL and has been named as Iyer’s replacement for the series against the visiting Kiwis. He was part of the ODI series against South Africa and Bangladesh last year. But he is yet to make his ODI debut.

Iyer had been looking in good form, but the injury comes only a day before the first ODI between India and New Zealand at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Fans hoped to see Suryakumar Yadav take up Iyer’s place in the ODI team.

India’s ODI squad against New Zealand: 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