Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced Ishan Kishan as injured KL Rahul's replacement for World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 final against Australia next month. Rahul got injured during Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) last week and has been ruled out for the season.
While BCCI mentioned that Jaydev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav have been injured and are undergoing rehabilitation, they are still in the WTC final squad. Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) Unadkat had tripped on a side rope and injured his left shoulder whereas Umesh sustained a minor left hamstring injury.
“The fast bowler is currently under the care of the KKR Medical Team and has started low-intensity bowling as part of his rehab process. The BCCI Medical Team is in regular touch with KKR Medical Team and is closely monitoring Umesh’s progress,” BCCI said in a statement.
Kishan is yet to make his Test debut. The southpaw has scored 2,985 runs in first-class format from 82 innings at an average of 38.76 including six centuries and 16 half-centuries. He has been picked up as KS Bharat's backup in the squad as a wicketkeeper-batter.
In addition, BCCI has named Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar and Suryakumar Yadav as standby players. In case Unadkat or Umesh do not regain full fitness in time, Mukesh is likley to walk into the side. He has 149 wickets from 70 first-class games at an average of 21.55 and strike rate of 47.77 including six five-wicket hauls.
Last month, Ajinkya Rahane replaced an injured Shreyas Iyer in the WTC final squad. Iyer had been ruled out due to back injury. Rahane earned the call-up after scoring 634 runs from 11 innings at an average of 57.63 including two centuries and one half-century for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy 2022-23.
India’s WTC final squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk)
Australia's WTC final squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
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