Australia vs India: Wrist injury rules KL Rahul out of remaining two Tests

KL Rahul, the Indian batsman, has been ruled out of the remaining two Tests against Australia in Sydney and Brisbane. The 28-year-old right-hander sustained a wrist injury during a training session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, December 2 and would be needing around three weeks to recover.

Rahul played in the ODI and T20I series where he managed a couple of fifties, but he hasn’t played at the first-class level on the tour. He wasn’t a part of the two warm-up games in Sydney and he wasn’t considered for selection for the first two Tests either. In the MCG Test, it was Shubman Gill, who made his Test debut.

KL Rahul to undergo rehab at NCA

“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 was quoted as saying through a media release.

The Karnataka-born Rahul would now be undergoing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru to attain the desired fitness levels at the earliest. “He will now return to India and head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for further rehabilitation of his injury,“ the release added.

Rahul’s injury may not concern the Indian team management a whole lot as they already have Rohit Sharma, who’s set to play in the Sydney Test. Though he has performed exceptionally in white-ball cricket, Rahul has strained a wee bit in Test cricket, having last played in the tour of the West Indies back in August 2019.

Earlier, Umesh Yadav was also ruled out and T Natarajan was added to the Test squad as his replacement. Before the Melbourne Test, India also lost the services of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami. Even as Kohli went on paternity leave to be with his wife, Shami sustained a forehand fracture.

The third and penultimate Test at the SCG begins on Thursday, January 7. In the meantime, reports of the Indian team not willing to travel to Brisbane for the fourth Test are also doing the rounds. The reason for the same being tough quarantine protocols.