Groin injury rules Warwickshire's Krunal Pandya out of ongoing Royal London One-Day Cup

India all-rounder Krunal Pandya has been ruled out of the remainder of Warwickshire’s Royal London One-Day Cup tournament after sustaining a groin injury during a match against Nottinghamshire last week. With Pandya no longer in the Indian team management and selectors scheme of things in white-ball cricket as of now, he looked to make the most of his Warwickshire stint eyeing a comeback to the national team.

During that match against Nottingham, the southpaw had scored 37, but did not return to field and also ended up missing Warwickshire’s next two fixtures against Middlesex and Durham. With Krunal Pandya being ruled out of the Royal London One-Day Cup competition, it is yet to be confirmed who his replacement is and what will be Krunal’s rehabilitation process for recuperating.

It’s frustrating to lose Krunal Pandya for the remainder of the tournament: Paul Farbrace

“It’s frustrating to lose Krunal for the remainder of the tournament, but he leaves the club with our very best wishes,” Warwickshire’s director of cricket Paul Farbrace said in a statement issued by the County.

“Krunal was an excellent role model around the group and I’m sure the younger members of the squad will have learned a lot from him on and off the pitch”, he added.

In the ongoing Royal London competition, Krunal Pandya so far played five matches scoring 134 runs and averaging 33.50. His best individual performance was a 74-run knock against Surrey at The Oval.

As per reports, the extent of Pandya’s injury is such that he is likely to be out of action for three weeks and will be unavailable for the knockouts provided his team qualifies in the first place.

Meanwhile, Krunal has not been a part of the Indian squad since July last year, and with already cut-throat competition among the current members of the Indian squad especially in the middle order and the all-rounders’ categories, it is a no-brainer that Pandya does not fit in the jigsaw puzzle for the T20 World Cup Down Under in October-November.