KL RAHUL HAS BEEN RULED OUT OF THE RAJKOT TEST, WITH PADIKKAL NAMED AS HIS REPLACEMENT
India’s middle-order batsman KL Rahul has been ruled out of the third Test against England in Rajkot.
Devdutt Padikkal has been named as his replacement in the squad.
Rahul, along with Jasprit Bumrah, was expected to join the India squad in Rajkot on Monday.
However, Cricpulse reports that Rahul is still at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, and his omission is largely precautionary.
Rahul had missed the Visakhapatnam Test due to a right quadriceps injury and had been named as part of the squad for the last three Tests, subject to fitness.
“BCCI later confirmed in a press release that Rahul has reached 90 per cent match fitness and is progressing well under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team,” the statement read.
“He will continue his recovery process at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to be completely match-fit for the fourth and fifth Tests.”
Padikkal receives his maiden call-up to the Test squad amidst a strong first-class season.
The 23-year-old Karnataka batsman, who usually bats at No.3 for his state side, recently scored 151 against Tamil Nadu.
This marked his third hundred in the ongoing Ranji Trophy, in addition to his 105 against England Lions in the second unofficial Test, where he opened the innings.
India, opting to overlook out-of-form Shreyas Iyer and veteran Cheteshwar Pujara, will have several fresh faces to choose from in Rajkot.
The selectors have maintained their faith in Rajat Patidar, who made his debut in Visakhapatnam, and Sarfaraz Khan, who is likely to make his debut.
The squad for the 3rd Test includes: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikkal.
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