KL Rahul picks up hand injury ahead of India vs Bangladesh 2nd Test: Full Details
KL Rahul is leading India in Rohit Sharma’s absence
India's stand-in captain KL Rahul picked up a hand injury ahead of their second Test against Bangladesh but batting coach Vikram Rathour said the injury "did not look serious."
Rahul suffered the blow while batting in the net sessions on the eve of the Dhaka Test. India are 1-0 up in the two-match Test series, with the tourists winning the Chattogram Test by 188 runs.
The opening batsman, who got hit on left thumb, has been advised icing on bruised area. Unless there is heavy swelling, he will play tomorrow.
"It doesn't [look serious]. He seems to be fine. Hopefully he'll be okay. The doctors are looking at it, but hopefully he'll be okay," Rathour said in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
It was Rathour, who was incidentally, bowling at Rahul when he took the blow to his hand towards the end of his nets session. The opening batsman was then seen rubbing the injured area, before being attended to by the team doctor.
If Rahul, who is captaining India in the absence of Rohit Sharma, is not declared fully fit for the second Test, which is due to go underway on Thursday at Shere Bangla Stadium, India would be without both their first-choice openers. Rohit, who injured his left thumb during the One-Day International (ODI) series earlier this month, missed the Chattogram Test and was also ruled out of the second game as he failed to recover fully from the injury.
If Rahul is unavailable on Thursday, vice-captain Cheteshwar Pujara will likely take over the captaincy. Rahul's opening slot could go to a debutant in Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was initially included in the squad as Rohit's standby.
The Indian selectors picked Abhimanyu because of his impressive performances for India A during their tour of Bangladesh. The right-handed batter recently scored a 50-overs century for Bengal against Services in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Abhimanyu recorded back-to-back hundreds in the four-day games against Bangladesh A in Cox's Bazar and Sylhet.
Rahul's injury is just an addition to India's growing injury list, with Jasprit Bumrah being a long-term absentee with a stress fracture of the back, while as many as seven players were ruled out of the ODI series in Bangladesh at various points - including first-choice Test players Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami.
India's Test squad for 2nd Test vs Bangladesh: KL Rahul (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Saurabh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat