One of India's batting mainstays KL Rahul has been ruled out for the third Test match against England in Rajkot.
The senior selection committee, while naming the Karnataka batsman for the last three Test matches, had added a rider. On Saturday, while announcing the team, the BCCI statement had said that "the participation of Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul is subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI medical team".
Rahul is still at NCA and he hasn’t traveled to Rajkot. The BCCI and the Indian team management is hoping that Rahul will be fit by fourth Test.
Rahul was earlier ruled out for the second Test at Vizag after he had complained of right quadriceps pain during the first Test match in Hyderabad.
Injuries and withdrawals have impacted the Indian team in the ongoing series. The biggest blow for the Rohit Sharma team was the absence of team's superstar, Virat Kohli, who has informed the Indian board that he was sitting out of the series because of personal reasons.
Replacing Rahul in the Test squad will be another Karnataka batsman Devdutt Padikkal. In his latest Ranji Trophy match, Paddikal had scored 151 with the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar watching the Karnataka vs Tamil Nadu game from the stands. The left-hander has been in sparkling form this season. After his 193 against Punjab in the opening Ranji game, he scored 103 against Goa. Padikkal also scored 105, 65 & 21 in his three innings for India A in the two unofficial Tests against England Lions.
Speaking after his innings against TN, the opener spoke about bouncing back from health issues to now scoring runs consistently and that he was flexible when it came to batting order. “I don’t mind batting at No.3 and I don’t mind opening either. So that doesn’t really make a huge difference. As you play more and more cricket and as you gain experience, at this level you will naturally be able to play more shots because you will be more confident about your areas,” he had said.