The men's selection committee has made a forced change to the squad for the third Test against England. KL Rahul whose participation was subject to fitness has been ruled out of the Rajkot Test. Karnataka batter Devdutt Padikkal has been named as his replacement.
“Mr. Rahul has reached 90 per cent of match fitness and is progressing well under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team,” the BCCI said in a media release.
“He will continue his recovery process at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to be completely match-fit for the fourth and fifth Test,” it added.
Padikkal’s recent form
Padikkal who made his T20I debut in 2021 has been consistent in the red-ball format of late. For Karnataka, he scored 151 against Tamil Nadu in a match that ended in a draw. Earlier, against England Lions, he scored a century for India A in the same match Sarfaraz Khan scored 161. Before joining the India A squad, he scored a century against Goa. He kick-started his Ranji Trophy 2023-24 season with a match-winning 193-run knock against Punjab.
No replacement named for Leach
Meanwhile, Ben Stokes-led England landed in Rajkot after a one-week break as they flew back to UAE where they prepared for the Test series. The visiting side refused to announce an injured Jack Leach's replacement for the remaining three Test. England's veteran left-arm spinner Leach injured his knee in the Hyderabad Test which England won by 28 runs.
However, they have three speciallist spinners Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, and Shoaib Bashir who featured in the Visakhapatnam Test. In addition, they have Joe Root as the fourth spin option.
India’s updated squad for the 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, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikkal.
England’s Test squad: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Daniel Lawrence, Gus Atkinson
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