Although India vice-captain KL Rahul has been named in the squad to face West Indies in the 5 T20Is starting July 29, the opener is facing a race against time to clear his fitness.
In the BCCI release announcing the T20I squad, it stated that Rahul and leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s availability for this series is subject to their fitness. Rahul is recovering from groin surgery while Kuldeep from a hand injury.
Rahul had sustained the injury ahead of the home T20I series against South Africa where he was supposed to lead the side but had to pull out last minute. He missed the series in Ireland and the entire tour of England as he flew to Germany for the surgery.
KL Rahul hasn’t played any match since the IPL 2022
Since returning back to India, the 30-year-old opener has been working hard at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore and has regularly been uploading his training images and videos on his Instagram.
According to a source in the know of developments, both the cricketers are closing in to fully recover: the source said that while Kuldeep is “80%” ready, Rahul is still a “work in progress”.
“Both KL and Kuldeep will have a fitness test this week. Their recovery is going really well and we hope they return to action. Kuldeep is already 80% match fit. For KL, it is a work in progress since he recently had a surgery. He has begun practice and depending on the level of fitness, we will take a call,” a member of the selection committee was quoted as saying by InsideSport.
KL Rahul had another big IPL season – leading the Lucknow Super Giants, the right-hander finished as the second-highest run-getter this season, amassing 616 runs, but his strike rate of 135 drew plenty of criticism.
The selectors didn’t name the vice-captain for this series as Rahul’s fitness is still in doubt. Should Rahul not make the tour, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah are the lead runners for being Rohit Sharma’s deputy.
India’s squad for the five T20Is vs WI: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul*, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
*The inclusion of KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav is subject to fitness.
The first three T20Is will be played in the Caribbean – the first match in Trinidad and the next two in St. Kitts – and then the action will move to Florida for the last two T20Is.
