India has been dealt an almighty double blow ahead of its next Test against England, with two more star players joining Virat Kohli on the sidelines.
The BCCI on Monday night released a statement confirming superstar all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and veteran batter KL Rahul had been ruled out of the second Test in Visakhapatnam due to injury.
Jadeja sustained a hamstring injury during the fourth day of India’s first Test loss to England, while Rahul “complained of a right quadriceps pain”.
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“The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring the progress of the duo,” the BCCI statement read.
It’s a significant setback for India, with Jadeja — one of the best modern-day Test all-rounders — having missed just one of India’s past 41 Tests at home — per Fox Sports News’ Justin Edwards — and Kohli already missing.
Kohli withdrew from the first two Tests due to personal reasons.
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Rahul and Jadeja were India’s two top-scorers during the nation’s impressive first innings total of 436 in Hyderabad, only for Ollie Pope to produce a match-turning innings and inspire England to a remarkable first Test win.
Sarfaraz Khan, Sourabh Kumar and Washington Sundar have been added to India’s second Test squad. Both Sarfaraz and Patidar scored centuries recently against the touring England Lions.
Rohit Sharma’s India lost the nail-biting opener by 28 runs in Hyderabad on Sunday on day four of the Test, after being ahead in the match for most of the opening three days.
India faltered in their chase of 231 and after Rohit fell for 39 off debutant left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, who returned figures of 7-62, the innings crumbled.
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India coach Rahul Dravid said his team’s spinners will come back strong in the second Test starting Friday in Visakhapatnam.
“We have to get more disciplined with where we pitch the ball; we will work on it and we will get better at it as we got some world-class spinners,” Dravid told reporters.
“It’s not the first time that we’ve been challenged. One of the good things about our spinners is that they’ve always come back.”
In England’s last Test series in India in 2021, the visitors won the opening game but the scoreline ended 3-1 in favour of the hosts.
India have been unbeaten at home since 2012 when Alastair Cook’s England beat them 2-1.
India second Test squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, K.S. Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Saurabh Kumar
— with AFP