Days before the Call of Duty League Major IV qualifiers are set to begin, OpTic Texas have given fans a roster update: OpTic’s star player Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal will not be playing at the start of Major IV.
It turns out that iLLeY’s persisting thumb injury has caused another issue in his hand, limiting his “range of motion.” Previously, iLLeY was due back to start playing again last week, but then this issue occurred. Due to this unforeseen speedbump, Texas will once again turn to Byron “Prolute” Vera for the start of Major IV. Prolute was on the roster for the entirety of Major III in place of iLLeY. Texas placed sixth at the major with Prolute, their lowest finish in 2022.
iLLeY announced the update via a YouTube video on OpTic Texas’ channel. The in-game leader for OpTic stated he had a cortisone injection to stop the pain in his thumb. While that did stop the pain, the procedure had a secondary side effect that limits iLLeY’s range of motion in his right hand.
Obviously, a professional Call of Duty player needs to have full access to both of their hands so they can hold the controller correctly. Without a full range of motion in your right hand, players can’t properly extend their fingers up to the triggers or to the buttons on the side of the controller. While iLLeY said he doesn’t feel much pain as of right now, he wants to come back closer to 100%.
That means that Prolute has once again left his Challengers team, hopped on a plane to Dallas, Texas, and has begun scrimmaging with OpTic in preparation for Major IV. It’s unclear exactly how long Prolute will be with the team this time around. However, iLLeY said his doctors told him that his full range of motion should return in around two-three weeks. That could mean Prolute will be on the starting roster for the qualifiers and then iLLeY would return for Major IV in New York.
