Senior India batsman Hanuma Vihari is fit now and is set to return to action after recovering from a forearm injury. This update from Hanuma Vihari on social media comes in the line when the national Test side has lost two batters – Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul – to injuries and both will miss the WTC final 2023 against Australia, slated for June at The Oval.
Team India’s Test squad had been announced but KL Rahul’s thigh injury came recently in the IPL. KL Rahul was expected to bat in place of Shreyas Iyer in the WTC final in the middle-order, but now it seems that Ajinkya Rahane, who has made his return to the Test squad for this one-off Test match, will slot in back at his previous position of number 5. The selectors now have the headache of naming the replacement of KL Rahul in the squad.
And while in-form red-ball batsman Sarfaraz Khan is an appealing option, the selectors might be wary of throwing Sarfraz straight into a big game like the WTC final.
They might think back to Hanuma Vihari, who last played for India in the Edgbaston Test in July last year, before being dropped for the Bangladesh series in December, but he’s been out of action for the past few months.
Hanuma Vihari had sustained a forearm injury while batting in February’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final for Andhra. He had showed great courage in returning to bat in that game and batted left-handed with a broken arm.
He had a mixed season, scoring 475 runs in 13 innings at an average of 39 with two half-centuries.
After being declared fit to play high-level cricket again, Vihari took to Instagram to update the fans – and the selectors – about his whereabouts.
“After a long break & multiple trips to the doctor’s and physios, I’m feeling much better & can’t wait to be back on the field. Are throwbacks only for Thursday?” while sharing an image of himself in India’s kit.
Here is India’s squad for WTC final: 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, (KL Rahul’s replacement not announced yet)
