OPENING BLOW
KL Rahul ruled out of first Test due to muscle strain, Suryakumar added to squad
Senior India opener KL Rahul was on Tuesday ruled out of the two-Test series against New Zealand due to a muscle strain in his left thigh, a development which is expected to open up debut opportunity for either Shreyas Iyer or Suryakumar Yadav.
The opening Test is scheduled to begin in Kanpur on Thursday and Suryakumar has been added to the Indian squad.
“Team India batsman KL Rahul has sustained a muscle strain on his left thigh and has been ruled out of the upcoming 2-match Test series against New Zealand,” BCCI said in a release. Rahul was missing from the India team’s customary practice session, attended by almost all the players at the Green Park Stadium on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old Rahul has featured in 40 Tests, scoring 2321 runs at an average of 35.16. His highest score was 199 that came against England in Chennai in 2016.
Shubman Gill was seen opening the batting along with Mayank Agarwal during the team’s net session as Cheteshwar Puja-* ra, the vice-captain for the series-opener, also batted. There is a strong possibility that either Shreyas or Suryakumar will make a Test debut and bat in the middle order. Young batter Shubman was expected to bat in the middle-order but now in the absence of Rahul, he will be asked to play in his usual opening slot. During the net session at the Green Park, Suryakumar was seen batting for a considerable amount of time. There was also Shreyas, who was seen bowling his leg breaks to Suryakumar.
Ashwin bowls with new ball in nets
Ravichandran Ashwin will be playing his first Test since June. The senior off-spinner, who is on the cusp of becoming India’s third highest wicket-taker in traditional format, was seen bowling with a new ball.
Ashwin has opened the bowling in Test matches for India earlier and could form a lethal combination with left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Later when he batted, head coach Rahul Dravid watched his net session and walked up to him to share some tips about his back-lift.