Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour says team India management unsure about KL Rahul's availability

India batting coach Vikram Rathour, on Thursday (February 22), delivered an update on KL Rahul‘s fitness ahead of the fourth Test against England in Ranchi. The penultimate match of the five-test series is scheduled to begin on Friday.

KL Rahul will miss the upcoming game as well. He has not played since suffering a quadricep strain in the first Test in Hyderabad last month. He as well as Ravindra Jadeja (hamstring) missed the second Test due to injuries. With a gap of more than a week between the second and third Test, it was expected that both players would be fit for the Rajkot game.

The BCCI also named them in the squad for the final three games although they stated that the players’ participation was subject to fitness. And while Jadeja recovered in time for the third Test, KL Rahul could not, raising several eyebrows. It was baffling as after the third Test, captain Rohit Sharma had said that ‘he should be okay’ for the fourth Test.

‘KL Rahul not fit yet’:

Almost a week before Rohit’s update, the BCCI had also stated that KL Rahul ‘has reached 90 percent of match fitness’. Unsurprisingly, many were surprised when he did not play the third Test. Earlier this week, the BCCI sprung another surprise by announcing that the Karnataka star would not play the fourth Test as well while also stating that his participation in the fifth Test is subject to fitness.

With little clarity over the batsman’s fitness status, Vikram Rathour was asked about it when he addressed the media in the pre-match press conference. In response, Rathour stated that he had no idea about the progress made by the batter before saying that the BCCI medical team would be in a better position to answer the question.

“I don’t know about the percentage but as far as I am concerned, it’s either fit or unfit. As of now, he is unfit. BCCI’s medical team will be in a better position to know about the injury,” said Rathour.