KL Rahul to miss England tour with groin injury, to travel abroad for treatment

Indian batter KL Rahul is set to miss India’s tour of England and will instead travel to Germany in late June or early July for the treatment of his groin injury, which led to his ruling out from the ongoing South Africa T20Is where he was set to lead Team India.

Rahul was named as the stand-in skipper in the absence of rested Rohit Sharma but picked up the injury on the eve of the series opener. Ever since, his participation in the England tour, where India are set to play the rescheduled fifth Test apart from three ODIs and T20Is each, hung in uncertainty.

Rahul, who had an impressive run in the four Tests as an opener, scoring 315 at just a shade under 40, including a 129 at Lord’s, was named as Rohit’s deputy, however, the injury means he will have no further part in the series. CricTracker understands that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will name a new deputy in the due course. 

“That is correct [Rahul going abroad], the board is working on his fitness and he will be going to Germany soon,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah told Cricbuzz on Thursday (June 16). The right-hander, who was last seen in action while leading the IPL debutants Lucknow Super Giants at the league’s 2022 edition, is currently under rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.

It is unlikely for the selectors to name a replacement, given India have Shubman Gill in the ranks to partner Rohit at the top. Meanwhile, a few members of the Test squad flew to England on June 16, while another batch is expected to leave upon the conclusion of the five-match home series against South Africa. 

India will play the rescheduled red-ball rubber from July 1 to 5 at Edgbaston, which will be the fifth and final Test of the series that started last year but was brought to an abrupt halt following the emergence of Covid-19 cases in the visiting camp. India currently lead the series 2-1. The white-ball leg of the series will run from July 7 to 17.

India’s Test squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna