BCCI Medical Team, KL Rahul Under Scrutiny for Allegedly Misleading Updates on Injury: Reports

Indian batsman KL Rahul and BCCI's medical team have gone under the radar ahead of the third Test against England. As per media reports, it has been learned that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is unhappy with the misleading information about the batter's injury update.

KL Rahul suffered pain in his quadriceps after the first Test against England in Hyderabad. This forced the batsman to miss the second Test as he was ruled out with an injury. Ahead of the third Test, he was named in the Indian squad for the last three matches but his availability was subject to fitness. After the announcement of the team, KL Rahul shared a video on his Instagram account in which he was seen batting. The batsman did not look in any discomfort while batting and played a beautiful drive. This gave fans hope that he would play a third game.

However, he was ruled out of the game on Monday (February 12th) as he will need some more time to recover. With KL Rahul's incidents in the headlines, a senior BCCI official has expressed his anger at the batter and the board's medical team. A senior BCCI official pointed out that if the medical team was aware of a serious quad injury, why did they allow him to be included in the squad? He also hit out at the beating saying that KL Rahul is sending wrong signals by posting the video. Speaking to media, he explained:

“If the BCCI medical team knew in the first place that Rahul's quad injury was as serious as it looked, why was he kept in the provisional squad in the first place. And why a player is sending wrong signals by posting his batting video on Instagram Stories.”

With KL Rahul ruled out of the Test match in Rajkot, a report in Indian Express has suggested that Sarfaraz Khan will make his debut. The right-hander was named as Rahul's replacement after he was ruled out of the second Test in Visakhapatnam.

Sarfraz Khan will enter the squad on the back of strong performances in the domestic circuit. He recently scored a century against England Lions and has been one of the most consistent performers in the domestic circuit.

BCCI has named KL Rahul's replacement for Rajkot
With KL Rahul ruled out of the third Test, the BCCI immediately announced a replacement batsman. They called Karnataka batsman Devdutta Padikal. The young opener is in ridiculous touch in domestic cricket and has been rewarded for it.

The BCCI confirmed that KL Rahul has reached 90% fitness and will be under the care of the BCCI medical team at the NCA. Releasing an official statement, the governing body said:

“KL Rahul, whose availability for the remaining three Tests was subject to fitness, has been ruled out of the third Test against England in Rajkot. Mr Rahul has reached 90 per cent of match fitness and is progressing well under the supervision of the BCCI medical team. He will continue his recovery process at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to be fully match fit for the fourth and fifth Tests. The men's selection committee has selected Devdutt Padikal as KL Rahul's replacement for the third Test starting February 15, 2024."