KL Rahul, BCCI medical team under the radar for providing misleading updates on batter's injury - Reports

Indian batter KL Rahul along with BCCI’s medical team has come under the radar ahead of the third Test against England. As per the reports in PTI, it is learned that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is unhappy over misleading information about the batter’s injury update.

KL Rahul suffered pain in his quadriceps after the first Test against England in Hyderabad. This forced batter to miss the second Test as he was ruled out due to the injury. Ahead of the third Test, he was named in the Indian squad for the last three games but his availability was subject to fitness.

After the squad was announced, KL Rahul shared a video on his Instagram account in which he was seen batting. The batter looked in no discomfort while batting and played gorgeous drives. This raised a ray of hope among the fans that he will be playing the third game.

However, on Monday (12th February), he was ruled out of the game as he will need some more time to recover. With developments about KL Rahul hogging over the headlines, a senior BCCI official has expressed his anger over the batter and the medical team of the board.

A senior BCCI official pointed out that if the medical team was aware of a serious quad injury then why did they allow him to be included in the squad? He also lashed out at the batter, saying that KL Rahul was sending the wrong signals by posting videos. Speaking to PTI, he explained:

“If the BCCI’s medical team knew in first place that Rahul’s quad injury is as serious as it looks, why in the first place was he kept in provisional squad. And why is the player sending wrong signals by posting videos of his batting on Instagram stories.”

With KL Rahul being ruled out of the Test match in Rajkot, a report in Indian Express has suggested that Sarfaraz Khan will be making his debut. The right-hander was named as a replacement for Rahul after he was ruled out of the second Test in Visakhapatnam.

Sarfaraz Khan will be entering the team on the back of solid performances in the domestic circuit. He recently slammed a ton against the England Lions and has been the most consistent performer in the domestic circuit.

BCCI names replacement for KL Rahul for Rajkot

With KL Rahul getting ruled out of the third Test, BCCI immediately announced the replacement for the batter. They called in Karnataka batter Devdutt Padikkal. The young opener has been in a ridiculous touch in domestic cricket and has been rewarded for the same.

BCCI confirmed that KL Rahul has reached 90% fitness and will be under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team at NCA. Releasing the official statement, the governing body stated:

“KL Rahul, whose availability for the remaining three Tests was subject to fitness, has been ruled out of the third Test against England in Rajkot. Mr. Rahul has reached 90 per cent of match fitness and is progressing well under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team.

He will continue his recovery process at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to be completely match-fit for the fourth and fifth Test. The Men’s Selection Committee named Devdutt Padikkal as KL Rahul’s replacement for the third Test, starting February 15, 2024.”

India’s updated Squad for the third Test: 

Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikkal.