Ishan Kishan replaced the injured KL Rahul in India’s squad for the World Championship (WTC) Final against Australia at The Oval in June. Rahul, captain of the Lucknow Super Giants team, has been sidelined from the rest of the international leagues and the World Tennis Championship final due to a groin injury. According to a BCCI statement, Jaydev Unadkat, who injured his left shoulder while training in the IPL, will be decided in the WTC final at a later date.
Kishan is not covered in Test cricket, but he has played 14 ODIs and 27 T20Is so far. He is the second wicket-keeper in India’s WTC team behind KS Bharat, who recently made his Test debut against Australia in February this year in the absence of Rishabh Pant. He played six innings in the four Tests for a total of 101 runs with a high score of 44.
As Rahul announced earlier on social media, he will now undergo surgery and will later report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for rehabilitation.
Rahul’s LSG teammate Unadkat was also out of the rest of the IPL due to an injury. He then traveled to Mumbai for check-ups and visited one of the specialist consultants appointed by the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Umesh Yadav also joined the injury list, after he injured his hamstring during Kolkata Knight Riders’ match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 26. He has not bowled fast for KKR since, but has resumed his “low intensity bowling”. The medical team at BCCI is working with the KKR staff to get Umesh fit and is “keeping a close eye” on his progress.
In the absence of both Rahul and Shreyas Iyer due to injury, Ajinkya Rahane may return to India’s squad, having last played in a Test in January 2022. Former India coach Ravi Shastri had endorsed Rahan’s inclusion in the squad, confirming Rahane’s desire to play Ranji. The cup as one of the most important differentiators. Rahane’s return means his County Championship debut for Leicestershire is likely to be held up after initially promising to play eight matches for the red ball and contest the full 50. Cheteshwar Pujara is already in the UK and is in excellent form, having scored three centuries in four cricket matches for Sussex.
Meanwhile, speculators Suriyakumar Yadav and Ruturaj Gaekwad, and seamstress Mukesh Kumar have been selected as reserve players for the World Tennis Championships final. Among them, only Suryakumar has experience in Test matches, having made his debut against Australia at Nagpur in February.
India’s national team to participate in the final of the World Tennis Championships: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahan, KS Bharat (week), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Aksar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohamed Shami, Mohamed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaidev Onadkat, Ishan Kishan (week)
Reserve players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
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