Suyash Sharma reveals his battle with a sports hernia that almost threatened his participation in the 2025 IPL.
Suyash Sharma reveals surgery for hernia nearly stopped him from starting IPL 2025.
Suyash Sharma, a legspinner for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), disclosed that he had several hernias prior to the 2025 Indian Premier League. He claimed that despite being predicted to play only “after three or four games,” RCB flew him to London for surgery and that he eventually made it to the opening match on March 22 against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
“We were practicing in February, and for two years, I had something going on for me,” Suyash said. “I played after taking injections. Within India, we weren’t even able to identify the problem that I was facing. [So] RCB sent me to London for surgery. I met James Pipe [RCB’s physio] there. He and his family treated me like their family.
“I had a hernia in three different places. Honestly, I had little hope of playing the first match [this season]. I had had a big surgery, and was told that I would be playing only after three or four games. But Pipey and his family took great care of me. I am thankful that I came to this franchise; I became fully fit. Before that, I had been suffering from the pain for the last two years. I was used to playing in pain.”
Prior to this year’s IPL, RCB purchased Suyash for INR 2.6 crore at the mega auction. Suyash has played for KKR for the previous two seasons before to that. He made his IPL debut in 2023 at the age of 19, with ten wickets in 11 games. However, Suyash only saw two games in 2024, despite KKR having a successful season. He was released prior to this season after going wicketless in four overs in both games.
According to Suyash, he was not participating in competitive sports when he initially learnt about the hernia.
“If you’re playing for India or a franchise, then you can still manage [to get help]. But I had this injury when I wasn’t even playing [for any team],” he said. “At that time, I wasn’t aware of anything; I just went to a physio, who told me something entirely different – so that made it difficult. RCB showed a lot of faith in me, and invested so much in me.”