Shreyas Iyer ruled out of New Zealand ODIs

Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against New Zealand due to a back injury, starting on Wednesday (January 18) in Hyderabad. The BCCI has announced Rajat Patidar as his replacement.

Iyer will now be heading to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for further assessment and management. The right-hander from Mumbai was India's leading run-getter in the 50-over format last year, slamming 724 runs in 15 innings at an average of 55.69.

Iyer featured in all three ODIs against Sri Lanka, managing scores of 28, 28 and 38.

Patidar was even part of the Indian squad for the ODI series in Bangladesh but didn't feature in any game. The right-hander from Madhya Pradesh has 1648 runs in 51 List A encounters at an average of 34.33 but has been in outstanding form in the last couple of years.

India will also be without KL Rahul and Axar Patel in this series. However, the Men in Blue are most likely going to play Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, and one of Shahbaz Ahmed or Washington Sundar, meaning Patidar could once again end up warming the bench.