NEW DELHI: India batter Shreyas Iyer, who returned to international cricket after a spell on the sidelines, opened up about the spleen injury he suffered during the third ODI against Australia in October and revealed how serious it was - something he only realised after being admitted to hospital.
Iyer also revealed that he had never heard of the word "spleen" before and was unaware that it is an important organ of the body.
"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. I didn't even know the word before," Iyer told the official broadcasters ahead of the second ODI against New Zealand in Rajkot.
"Then the next day, when I was admitted to the hospital, I realised, 'Wow, okay, this was a severe injury.' Yes, it was (spleen was a new word I learnt that day)," he said.
Iyer added that the recovery phase made him pause, take things slowly, and spend time reflecting on his journey.
"This process made me feel that I had to give myself a little bit of time not to over-exert, because I'm someone who can't sit in one place. I want to keep doing one thing or another," he said.
"But this injury especially gave me time to reflect upon myself, rejuvenate, and also relax as much as possible, because it's not like 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, I would be back to normal and then I could start training. So I just followed the proper guidelines I was provided with, and after that it was smooth sailing," he explained.
Iyer said he relies purely on instinct and practice, staying in the moment and backing himself to attack any ball in his scoring zone.
"Honestly speaking, I'm not trying to do anything. It's just instincts. The more I practice in the nets, the easier it gets in the match. Even in the nets, I don't decide that I would be targeting a specific area or taking on the bowlers. I like to be in the moment, and I've decided that if the ball is in my area, I'm going to take it on.
"There are no two decisions at a time. I think in the previous game, I was under the impression that I was going to take singles. In that process, my body also reacted a bit slowly. So I just don't want to be in that frame of mind going forward, and this is my mindset currently."
