Devdutt Padikkal to Replace KL Rahul in Rajkot Test Against England, Reports Suggest

After being included in India's squad for the last three Tests against England, batsman KL Rahul has been dropped from the third Test starting February 15. According to an Indian Express report, Rahul was being monitored by BCCI's medical team and they felt that the Karnataka batsman was not fully fit. He will be re-examined after a week. However, while announcing the squad for the last three Tests, the Indian selectors mentioned that both Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja will be subject to fitness.

KL Rahul ruled out of third Test against England: Reports
KL Rahul will be replaced by Devdutt Padikal who played a brilliant innings of 151 runs against Tamil Nadu and the match was overseen by the Chairman of the Indian Selection Committee Ajit Agarkar.

The right-handed batsman recently uploaded a video on his Instagram story of him practicing in the nets ahead of the third IND vs ENG Test match. Rahul had a brilliant batting performance in the first Test match of the series and played an innings of 86 runs to help India set a good first innings score. Last year was not easy for KL Rahul as a cricketer. Rahul was not in proper touch with the bat due to which he lost his place in the Test team. Rahul also got injured during the Indian Premier League 2023 and was sidelined for 4 months.

However, the Karnataka batsman made a brilliant comeback and on his international comeback, he scored a century against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023. He also played some brilliant innings in ODI World Cup 2023. Rahul's most memorable innings of 95* came in front. Australia in India's opening game of the tournament.

KL Rahul was also brilliant behind the stumps and took some brilliant catches behind the stumps. For this reason, he was also awarded the Fielding Medal several times.

Ija and India had a close love affair for the past 2 years. Apart from KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer missed a major chunk of international cricket due to their respective injuries. On the other hand, Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was also ruled out of the second Test due to a hamstring strain. Jadeja was also among India's best performers in the first Test. Jadeja was India's highest run-scorer in the first innings and also took 3 wickets with the ball in the first innings.

With KL Rahul reported to miss the third Test match, Sarfaraz Khan has the best chance to make the squad. Shreyas Iyer has been left out of the team due to poor performances in the first two matches. KS Bharath's form is also a concern for India, who has been entrusted with the wicket-keeping duties in Rahul's absence.