In a major blow before the all-important one-off Test match against England, Rohit Sharma & his men will be missing the services of vice-captain KL Rahul due to a groin injury. The latter had to miss the recently-concluded five-match home T20I series against the Proteas, where he was named captain of the side due to the same reason.
In Rahul’s absence, India is yet to name a replacement, someone from the existing squad will have to step up in the right-hander’s absence. Mayank Agarwal opened the batting for India in each of their last seven Test matches and has not been picked in the visiting squad for England tour.
With speculation rising about who will be replacing KL Rahul, returning Cheteshwar Pujara being talked about as a leading contender, an Instagram post by the official account of Team India has hinted that Shubman Gill will be Rohit’s opening partner for the big Test.
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A video was also shared on social media where the Indian players can be seen entering the venue and former skipper, Virat Kohli did a special entry with attitude.
Watch till the end for Virat Kohli, Indian cricket team in Leicestershire 🇮🇳#CricketTwitter #ViratKohli #RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/oD6HtingVA
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) June 20, 2022
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a clip of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill practicing in the nets at Leicestershire, where they are scheduled to play a four-day warm-up match from June 24 with the caption, ‘#TeamIndia openers captain @rohitsharma45 and @shubmangill are getting into the groove on Day 1 of our nets session.’
View this post on Instagram
Hello from Leicester and our training base for a week will be @leicsccc 🙌 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/MAX0fkQcuc
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 20, 2022
The clash at Edgbaston is the fifth and final Test of last year’s series where the last game at Manchester was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian team. India is leading the series 2-1 and a win or draw will seal a historic series win which will be India’s first on English soil since 2007.
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KL Rahul’s absence comes as a big blow as he played a vital role in India’s success last year. He was the third-highest run-getter in the series with 315 runs in four matches which included a memorable ton at Lord’s.
