Injured KL Rahul In Doubt For Rescheduled Fifth Test Against England At Edgbaston - Reports

India opener KL Rahul might miss the upcoming rescheduled 5^th Test against England which is to be played at Edgbaston in July, thanks to his groin injury, which forced him to withdraw from the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa at home.

Rahul was named the captain of the Indian team against the Proteas in absence of regular captain Rohit Sharma, but got injured on the eve of the first game and was withdrawn from the entire series, with Rishabh Pant being named the new captain.

The BCCI recently put out a statement saying, “Team India Captain KL Rahul has been ruled out of the T20I series against South Africa owing to a right groin injury while Kuldeep Yadav will miss out in the T20I series after getting hit on his right hand while batting in the nets last evening.”

Kuldeep has also reported at the NCA.

KL Rahul is the vice-captain of the Indian team across formats and would be in that position on India’s upcoming tour of England where one Test, three one-day internationals (ODIs), and three T20-internationals (T20Is) will be played. Now the selectors will have to name a vice-captain for the tour, which could be Pant or Bumrah.

Diagnosis Of KL Rahul’s Injury Not Done Yet At The NCA, Putting Him In Doubt For England Test

It is not clear how long Rahul will be out of action. He is believed to have reported at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru a few days back and it is learnt that the diagnosis of his complaint is not complete yet.

As per Cricbuzz, sources have said that his participation in the England series is doubtful but could not clarify if he will have to skip the white ball games as well. The first batch of the Indian team will fly to England on Friday (June 16) and another batch, including coach Rahul Dravid, Pant, and Shreyas Iyer, on June 20.

But also, there has been no guarantee that BCCI might name a replacement for KL Rahul. Without Rahul, the team for the Test will have Rohit and Shubman Gill as the openers, but the team management might ask for Mayank Agarwal’s inclusion as a backup.

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

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