KL Rahul has been ruled out of the third Test against England in Rajkot, beginning Thursday, after experiencing fresh pain in his right quadriceps. Karnataka’s Devdutt Padikkal will take his place in the squad.
Rahul was deemed to be fit and was supposed to join the squad for the third Test on Monday but this sudden bout of pain has forced him to extend his stay at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.
The middle-order batter, along with Ravindra Jadeja, was included in the squad for the remaining three Test matches subject to their clearing the fitness tests. It is understood that the move to keep Rahul out of the Rajkot match is precautionary.
“Rahul has reached 90 per cent of match fitness and is progressing well under the supervision of the BCCI medical team,” BCCI said in a media release. “He will continue his recovery process at the National Cricket Academy... to be completely match-fit for the fourth and fifth Test.”
His exclusion from the squad means the batting line-up will be further weakened with Virat Kohli already being ruled out of the series. Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are the only players with experience in the top order.
The national selectors have already decided to look beyond out-of-form Shreyas Iyer and veteran Cheteshwar Pujara. Rajat Patidar is expected to retain his place while it will be a choice between rookies Sarfaraz Khan and Padikkal.
It is still not clear if Jadeja, who is battling a hamstring strain suffered during the opening Test in Hyderabad, will be able to play the third Test with the all-rounder yet to join the squad.
Padikkal, the 23-year-old left-hand batter, has so far aggregated 556 runs in six innings at an average of 92.66 this Ranji season. He has scored three centuries, with a highest of 193 in the season opener against Punjab.
He also impressed with scores of 65, 21 and 105 for India A against England Lions in Ahmedabad.
The Indians are already in Rajkot and will have their first practice session on Tuesday. Padikkal will link up with the squad on Tuesday from Chennai, where he struck 151 and 36 against Tamil Nadu in a Ranji Trophy match which ended on Monday. The England team too reached Rajkot on Monday from Abu Dhabi.
