Indian batter KL Rahul will not be part of the contingent that will join the Indian squad in the West Indies for the upcoming series. According to sources, KL Rahul is unavailable owing to COVID infection for the entire T20 series. The absence of KL Rahul for all the 5 matches is a big shock for Team India.
KL Rahul was reported to be tested COVID positive on 22 July. He was recovering at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore after his surgery.
Rahul was only included in the T20I team for the West Indies series, subject to fitness, and his absence will allow players like Ishan Kishan, and Deepak Hooda (who opened in a game during the series in Ireland), and Sanju Samson to get more playing time.
He had a successful hernia operation in Germany and hasn’t played since being forced to miss the home T20 series against South Africa in June and the rescheduled test match against England, which was played in Edgbaston.
He was scheduled to go with the squad for the West Indies that arrived in Trinidad today. India’s regular skipper Rohit Sharma arrived on Tuesday, as shown in a video posted by the BCCI ahead of the T20Is, which begin on July 29.
Rohit Sharma was welcomed by batting coach Vikram Rathour and Praveen Mhambrey, who were joined by Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin, and Kuldeep Yadav.
Now, in the absence of KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan or Rishabh Pant are the top contenders to open the inning with Hitman Sharma.
India’s T20 Squad vs WI:
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi.
