Ind vs Aus – KL Rahul injured: Team India wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul, 28, has been ruled out of the ongoing India-Australia Test series due to a wrist injury he sustained while batting in the nets on Saturday.
“KL Rahul sprained his left wrist while batting in the nets at the MCG during Team India’s practice session on Saturday. The wicketkeeper-batsman will not be available for the remaining two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he will need about three weeks time to recover completely and regain full strength,” BCCI said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
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The right-handed batsman will now join the likes of Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav who have also been sent to the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore for rehabilitation.
“He will now return to India and head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for further rehabilitation of his injury,” the statement added.
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His injury is an addition to the growing list of injury-enforced exclusions in the Indian team.
Shami was ruled out after he was hit on the right hand during the first test while Yadav suffered a calf strain midway in the second Test. Rahul is the first among the batting group to be ruled out.
He will now have to wait for his possible comeback to the playing XI for another month. He last played a Test for India in September 2019. However, due to a string of poor scores, he was dropped from the team.
Although present only in the reserves, it’ll bring down India’s bench-count of specialist batsmen to two (Prithvi Shaw and one of Mayank Agarwal or Hanuma Vihari). The return of Rohit Sharma to the squad though will offset the gap created by Rahul’s absence