KL Rahul is having a stroke of horrible luck with injury for a while now. After missing a lot of international series last year, the star batter must have thought of going on redemption of some sort. His saga with injury however continues to play out this year as well.
The Lucknow captain got injured in the last minute before the start of the India- South Africa T20I series. Rishabh Pant had to be promoted as a stand-in captain for the series. The Indian opener was slated to join back the Indian team for the rescheduled Test match against England starting on July 1.
An Indian Cricket Board official however has come out and squashed all doubts about Rahul’s recovery. Speaking to PTI, the official said, “Rahul has not recovered from his groin injury. The Test squad members are assembling in Mumbai today and will fly out at midnight. Rahul is not traveling with the team. Throwing light on his recovery process, the official said, “He will take some more time to recover although he might appear in a fitness test during the weekend. Chances of recovery aren’t looking bright.”
When asked if Rahul’s absence would hurt India’s chances, he explained, “You have Shubman Gill, who has opened in most of his Test matches. Else, Cheteshwar Pujara can also open the batting, in case there are any fitness issues for any of the two openers. It was a 17- member squad and 16 will be going. So that’s not a problem.”
All senior players who were rested for India- South Africa T20I series would be joining the team for the sole Test match in England. Currently, India is hosting South Africa in a five T20I series. The Proteas have won the first two with India coming back and winning the third. All sights are set on the fourth match of the series which is going to be held in Rajkot on June 17. India would need to win the fourth match to keep their hopes alive in the series. The fifth match is scheduled for June 19 in Bangalore.
