Portugal Colonial - India's Iyer 'stable' after lacerated spleen: Suryakumar

Iyer, 30, sustained the injury as he pulled off a sensational catch to remove Alex Carey, a key moment in the third one-day international against Australia that India won by nine wickets in Sydney.

The Indian ODI vice-captain was forced off the field and hospitalised.

"I have been talking to him over the last two days, he has been replying," Suryakumar told journalists ahead of the team's first T20 international in Canberra on Wednesday.

"It's looking good," Suryakumar said. "They will keep him under observation for a few days."

He added that doctors and physiotherapists described the injury as "rare".

"But rare things happen to rare talent. God is with him and he will recover soon and we will take him along with us."

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) later said a repeat scan on Tuesday showed "significant improvement" with Iyer "on the road to recovery".

"The BCCI Medical Team, in consultation with specialists in Sydney and India, will continue to monitor his progress," said the BCCI.

Iyer is not part of India's T20 squad, which will play five matches in Australia that will serve as a tune-up for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February-March.

He has scored 2,917 runs from 73 ODIs at an average of 47.81 since his ODI debut in 2017.

J.Pereira--PC