Shreyas Iyer has opted to go for a back surgery which is set to rule him out for at least three months. Iyer is set to fly to London to get operated on, a source close to him confirmed to Cricbuzz.

Hardik Pandya too had similarly flown to London for surgery, while Prasidh Krishna and Jasprit Bumrah had headed to New Zealand for their surgeries.

The injury is believed to be disc related, different from what the two pacers suffered from – which was stress fracture. Shreyas arrived at the decision of surgery after exhausting all possible options of conservative treatment. The time of his surgery is yet to be decided.

This rules Iyer out of the ongoing IPL 2023, where he was supposed to play for Kolkata Knight Riders. It also means that he will miss the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval that starts on June 7.

Iyer, as reported by Cricbuzz first, had delayed the call on the surgery to see if he could have had any improvement that would have allowed him to play some cricket in the near future. However, he has now gone down the route that would have him sidelined for a longer period as was the recommendation by the NCA earlier.

Those who have undergone the back surgery say it can only improve things and is surely a long-term solution, particularly for those who suffer regular recurrence of the ailment, something Iyer has been experiencing for the last six months or so.

Iyer had to withdraw from the final Test against Australia at Ahmedabad after injuring his back at practice. It turned out to be a recurrence of an injury that had earlier forced him to miss a white ball series against New Zealand.