T20 World Cup 2022: 3 Indian players who might miss the tournament due to constant injury concerns

The ICC T20 World Cup is only three months away and India under the leadership of Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid would be hoping to go all the way this time around. The Men in Blue had a forgettable tournament last year where they failed to make the semis and also suffered a humiliating 10-wicket loss at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan.

In fact, India will once again begin their campaign against the Babar Azam-led side on October 23 at the iconic MCG. As the Indian team is looking forward to ending their nine-year ICC title drought, they need to have a lot of questions answered as far as the fitness and availability of their players are concerned due to unavoidable circumstances like injuries.

With the top-order including skipper Rohit and batting megastar Virat Kohli out of touch with the bat, India are already in a spot of bother and if any of the key players are forced to be ruled out due to injury concerns then it would definitely turn out to be a horrible experience for the Indian think tank. Without further ado, here’s a look at the three injury-prone players who could miss the showpiece event.

3 Injury prone players who might miss T20 World Cup 2022:

3. KL Rahul

KL Rahul is arguably the backbone of the Indian top-order and he would have a huge role to play in the upcoming T20 World Cup by working in tandem with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Rahul had an excellent IPL 2022 leading the new entrants Lucknow Super Giants where he finished as the second-highest run-getter of the season amassing 616 runs from 15 matches at a strike rate of 135.38 including two centuries.

However, it is to be noted that Rahul has not played any international matches since then. In fact, he was all set to lead the Men in Blue in the home T20Is against South Africa in June before a groin injury ruled him out of action. The Karnataka cricketer underwent successful surgery in Germany and was all in readiness to make a comeback in the upcoming West Indies T20Is before he tested positive for COVID-19,

While Rahul might just make it in time before the T20I series in the Caribbean, the Indian selectors and team management would certainly be in a spot of bother heading into the T20 World Cup. One more unfortunate injury to Rahul going forward would leave them with hardly any choice of finding a suitable batting replacement.

2. Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is known for his ability to swing the new ball both ways when he first started his international career and was a regular member of the Indian team across formats. Nonetheless, after the conclusion of the 2019 World Cup, his career has been marred with injuries and the senior pacer was also seen limping off the field midway on a couple of occasions.

Reportedly, the UP cricketer was also not 100% during the T20 World Cup in the UAE last year where India crashed out in Super 12 after heavy defeats in their opening fixtures against Pakistan and the eventual finalists New Zealand. Since then, Kumar has worked extremely hard on his fitness and has succeeded in being a part of India’s limited-overs setup in the last few months. More importantly, he was also available for the entire IPL 2022 that was played over a duration of two months.

Even though Bhuvneshwar Kumar is playing for India only T20Is on a regular basis now, there could be fitness concerns for the pacer in the future, and should that happen then it would definitely turn out to be a huge blow for the Indian pace attack.

1. Suryakumar Yadav

This is indeed really surprising, but a harsh reality nonetheless. Suryakumar Yadav seems to be in the form of his life in the shortest format as he slammed a quickfire 117 runs from 55 deliveries at a strike rate of 212.7 chasing a mammoth 216. What really stood out during that knock was the way he handled the pressure exceptionally well after India were reduced to 31/3 inside the Powerplay.

However, Yadav has been injured twice this year. He was first ruled out of the home series against Sri Lanka due to a hairline fracture in his right hand and just recovered in time to participate in the IPL 2022 where he represented the five-time champions Mumbai Indians. Unfortunately for him, a left forearm muscle injury that he suffered midway ruled him out from the remainder of the tournament and also forced him to miss the subsequent South Africa T20Is.

The Indian think tank would be desperately hoping that the Mumbai cricketer suffers no more injuries going forward which could put them in all sorts of trouble in order to find a consistent and well-established middle-order batter.