The Indian cricket team has suffered another injury blow ahead of the 2nd T20I match against Sri Lanka as opener Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of the series due to a wrist injury. On the day of the first T20I in Lucknow, Ruturaj has complained of wrist pain in his right hand.
The news was confirmed by Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who while speaking at the toss during the 1st T20I had said that Ruturaj was all set to be part of the playing XI but he had to miss out. BCCI also shared a video where he was seen practicing in nets and walked out after suffering some issue with his wrist.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Indian team had said: “Ruturaj Gaikwad complained of pain in his right wrist, which is affecting his batting. He was unavailable for selection for the first T20I. The BCCI Medical Team is examining him,”
Ruturaj will be unavailable for the remaining two T20Is against Sri Lanka that will be played on Saturday, Sunday. He has been replaced by Mayank Agarwal, the reports added: “It was not difficult to send Agarwal in because it could easily be a bubble-to-bubble transfer. He was in Chandigarh and he was immediately rushed,”
Mayank Agarwal, who is an uncapped player in T20Is, is unlikely to feature in the playing XI as Ishan Kishan did a terrific job in the opening T20I. However, Agarwal is a confirmed selection in the Test series and will be seen opening the innings with Rohit Sharma.
Meanwhile, fans were left disappointed after Ruturaj was ruled out of the series. Here, check out the reactions of Twitterati to this:
JUST IN : Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of the remaining two T20 games due to wrist injury ?#WhistlePodu | #TeamIndia
— CSK Fans Army
(@CSKFansArmy) February 25, 2022
(@CSKFansArmy) .@Ruutu1331 ruled out of the T20 series against Sri Lanka ?
— KARTHIK DP (@dp_karthik) February 25, 2022
Was excited and hopeful to see Ruturaj play a couple of matches atleast in this series but guy got injured and ruled out. Jadeja just came back after a long injury break then it was Chahar and now Rutu. Who’s doing black magic now
— Heisenberg
(@internetumpire) Tough times for Ruturaj continues – Bench in the T20 vs NZ, Bench in the ODI vs SA, COVID ahead of WI ODI series, Got one opportunity in the T20 vs WI, ruled out of SL T20 series due to an injury.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 25, 2022
India’s T20I squad for 2nd & 3rd T20I against Sri Lanka:
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Avesh Khan, and Mayank Agarwal.
