India’s KL Rahul Ruled Out of Third Test Against England Due to Injury

India’s middle-order batsman, KL Rahul, will not be participating in the third Test match against England in Rajkot, dealing a significant blow to the team.

Rahul, who played in the first Test, was absent from the second due to a quadriceps injury. Despite being named in the squad for the remaining three Tests, his inclusion, along with Ravindra Jadeja’s, was contingent on fitness clearance from the BCCI medical team.

The BCCI has confirmed that Rahul has achieved only “90% match fitness” and will continue his recovery process at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. He is expected to be fully match-fit for the fourth and fifth Test.

KL Rahul had a successful World Cup, with three scores over 50 and an average of 75.

Devdutt Padikkal, the Karnataka batsman, has been named as Rahul’s replacement.

India’s batting department has already suffered due to the absence of key players. Virat Kohli is absent for personal reasons, and Shreyas Iyer was left out of the team for the last three Tests.

Rajat Patidar made his Test debut in Vizag and is likely to retain his place in the XI for the third Test.

Padikkal, who has been performing well for India A and Karnataka, could potentially make his debut in the series.

Ravindra Jadeja delivered an impressive ball to beat Steve Smith’s defence in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup clash between India and Australia in Chennai.

India Squad for 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