(Cricket news) According to various reports KL Rahul has been ruled out of the Edgbaston Test against England. Rahul got injured in training before the T20I series against South Africa and was subsequently ruled out of it. He has now failed to recover in time for the Test and is now on his way to Germany to complete his recovery. Rahul's absence is a massive blow to the team and the batter himself. There has been no official announcement from BCCI and hence it is unclear whether a replacement will be sent to England.
The news is absolutely devastating for KL Rahul, whose Test career had been miraculously recovered. Rahul had a stint as India's first choice Test opener but was dropped after a run of bad performances. He was later brought back into the side as a middle order batter in the 2020/21 border gavaskar trophy. When India had all the middle order batters injured, Rahul was supposed to step in but he too got injured in the nets. When he returned to the Test side for the England tour, a bit of luck went his way. Shubman Gill who was the first choice opener back then got injured. He was supposed to be replaced by Mayank Agarwal but the opener suffered concussion after being hit on the helmet in the nets.
Rahul who was preparing as a middle order batter was asked to open the batting once again. Along with Rohit Sharma he formed an excellent opening pair that performed exceedingly well. Rahul scored a match-winning century at Lords which earned him a player of the match award. Rahul then went on to score a century in South Africa and also captained the side in Virat Kohli's absence. Now with this injury he might have given a chance to Shubman Gill to try and reclaim his spot. Mayank Agarwal is not a part of the team due to his inconsistencies but he will be a candidate to replace Rahul as India have only two openers in the squad now.
As for the Indian team, they had a very strong opening combination in Rahul and Rohit, one which had success in English conditions. Shubman Gill had an incredible start to his Test career in Australia but since then has dipped in form. Now he has an incredible opportunity to try and regain his spot as Rohit Sharma's opening partner even though his future may be in the middle order. There will also be extra pressure on Rohit Sharma to sort of take control whenever he opens the batting with Gill.
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