KL Rahul, Jaydev Unadkat’s Injuries New Headache For India Ahead Of WTC Final Vs Australia
KL Rahul pulled his hip flexor muscle but the extent of his injury is yet to be ascertained. Jaydev Unadkat suffered a shoulder injury during training.
Lucknow: Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul and his team’s veteran left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat seem to have sustained serious injuries which could render them doubtful for the high-profile World Test Championship final against Australia at the Oval from June 7-11.
Senior Team India wicketkeeper-batter Rahul sustained the injury on his right thigh during the IPL 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday. Rahul limped off the field with the help of the team physio and a teammate, who was in the reserve.
He was finding it difficult to walk and lay on the ground writhing in pain for quite sometime after what seemed like a pulled thigh muscle while chasing a ball racing to the boundary. He first held his right thigh and limped before collapsing onto the ground.
The injury happened off the last ball of the second over when Faf du Plessis punched a Marcus Stoinis delivery through the extra cover region and Rahul sprinted to save an imminent boundary.
It was vice-captain Krunal Pandya, who took charge with Ayush Badoni coming out to open alongside Kyle Mayers. Pandya said Rahul pulled his hip flexor muscle but the extent of his injury is yet to be ascertained. Rahul came out to bat as the last man but couldn’t run.
He could play only three balls without scoring. “It is a sad thing. He (Rahul) pulled his hip flexor, I guess. I do not know how bad it is. The medical team will assess it,” Pandya said at the post-match presentation.
A day before the game, his teammate Unadkat slipped badly while bowling at the nets and it resulted in a nasty fall with the entire weight of his body on his left shoulder. Unadkat was in pain and the team physio was seen putting ice-pack on the injured area.
It is still not known if it’s a dislocation and whether he needs to report to the National Cricket Academy.
Replacement Options: Arshdeep, Yashashvi, Kishan
The Indian team hasn’t made its stand-by list official for the WTC final. KS Bharat has always been their first-choice keeper and not Rahul. They can bolster the batting by taking the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has a double hundred and hundred in Irani Cup.
The other top-order option is Abhimanyu Easwaran while keeping option is Ishan Kishan, who has been initially dropped because Rahul is in squad of 15.
In case Unadkat sustains a dislocation, then he could be out for a good two-month period and the only quality left-arm option available for the team management is Arshdeep Singh, who is supposed to play for English county Kent in June, after the IPL gets over.
The other options are right-armers — Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini — but they will also be in reckoning as Umesh Yadav (dodgy hamstring) and Shardul Thakur (unknown niggle) also don’t seem to be in the best of shape.