KL Rahul Ruled Out of Fourth Test Against England Due to Injury

Ranchi:  India’s middle-order batsman KL Rahul has been officially ruled out of the fourth Test against England in Ranchi due to a quadriceps injury. The 31-year-old missed the second and third Tests after sustaining the injury during the series opener in Hyderabad. Despite making progress and reaching 90% match fitness, Rahul has not fully recovered, and his availability even for the final Test in Dharamsala remains uncertain, pending fitness assessment.

In the absence of Rahul, Karnataka batsman Devdutt Padikkal, who earned a maiden call-up to the Test squad, retains his place. Rahul’s recent struggles with injuries have been a concern, with a thigh surgery during IPL 2023 sidelining him for a significant portion of matches. He returned to action during the Asia Cup and had been in excellent form across Test and ODI formats before this setback.

In another development, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will be rested for the Ranchi Test to manage his workload, considering the upcoming schedule, including the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the T20 World Cup in West Indies & the USA. Bumrah, who has been the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing series against England with 17 wickets at an impressive average of 13.64, has bowled 80.5 overs in the first three Tests.

Mukesh Kumar, who was released from the squad for the third Test, will rejoin the team after delivering a career-best match haul of 10 for 50 for Bengal against Bihar in the Ranji Trophy. The uncapped Akash Deep from Karnataka is the third seamer in the squad.

The India squad for the fourth Test includes Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, and Akash Deep.