Injury woes for Team India players continue to pile up as KL Rahul is the latest entrant to the injured list. The Lucknow Super Giants batsman and captain sustained a hamstring or quad injury while fielding in his side’s match against RCB in Lucknow and limped off the field.
KL Rahul is also LSG’s second-leading run-scorer this season.
So when he grimaced in pain and left the field, it was apparent that he was out for a long time and that would be a big blow to LSG.
He has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL. With the WTC Final 2023 against Australia starting only 10 days after the conclusion of the IPL 2023, chances of Rahul making it to the Test match at The Oval is slim.
While the BCCI awaits the update on the extent of Rahul’s injury, they should also keep on tabs a couple of names who could be called up should they need to name a replacement in the squad. Rahul was also expected to take up the middle-order role vacated by the injury to Shreyas Iyer, however, that now seems will be taken up by Ajinkya Rahane, who has been recalled after over a year.
Here are a couple of options for the BCCI selectors and India management to replace KL Rahul in WTC Final 2023 squad if the need arises:
Sarfaraz Khan
Sarfaraz Khan would certainly be on the mind of the selectors and the fans as everyone waits for Rahul’s injury reports. Many fans had thought Sarfaraz Khan was hard done by when he was not selected for the Australia series and Suryakumar Yadav got the nod and made his Test debut.
Sarfaraz Khan has been in great form over the past three years in red-ball domestic cricket. He has amassed over 900 rus in consecutive Ranji season and in the 2022/23 Ranji Trophy, he scored 556 runs in 9 innings at a Bradman-esque average of 92 with a strike rate of 72 with the help of 3 hundreds.
Mayank Agarwal
In a big game such as the WTC Final, the selectors and management might be wary of giving a call-up to an uncapped player like Sarfaraz. This could lead them to recalling the experienced opener Mayank Agarwal.
Agarwal was dropped from the Test side as his numbers dipped in Test cricket while Shubman Gill rose along the same time and Rahul and Rohit Sharma were the first-choice openers. Agarwal, however, put thar setback behind and emerged as the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy 2022/23 season, scoring 990 runs in 13 innings at 82, hitting 3 centuries and 6 fifties.
If Rahane takes up the middle-order spot, Agarwal can be kept in the squad as a back-up batsman.
