Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Ajinkya Rahane is set to miss the remainder of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2022 and was also declared unavailable for the England tour, which is scheduled to begin in July.
The 33-year-old suffered a Grade III hamstring injury during the IPL clash against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 14. The player didn’t take the field during SRH’s innings after having scored 28 off 24 earlier. He exited the KKR bio-bubble on Monday and will now head to the National Cricket Academy for rehabilitation, which is likely to span over four weeks.
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The right-hander couldn’t quite create an impact during the seven appearances he made this season, aggregating 133 runs at 19 while striking at 103.9. He will also miss India’s tour of England (Jul 9-22), which includes the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston followed by three T20Is and as many ODIs.
India have a packed international calendar immediately following the conclusion of the IPL, with the five-match home T20I series against South Africa to be played from June 9 to 19. Delhi, Cuttack, Visakhapatnam, Rajkot and Bengaluru will host the five games. The Men in Blue have two T20Is against Ireland lined up thereafter, to be played on June 26 and 28 in Dublin.
With the Edgbaston Test scheduled to begin just two days later, the Chetan Sharma led selection committee is likely to pick two different squads for India’s T20I series against the Proteas (home) and the England tour. The situation is similar to that of last year, when India had two different sets of players for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka and the Test series in England, with Rahul Dravid and Ravi Shastri leading the coaching duties for the respective series.
There’s also a possibility that the squad selected to play South Africa travels to Ireland for the two T20Is. Furthermore, The Board of Control for Cricket in India is reportedly in talks with the England and Wales Cricket Board for a warm-up match to be organized before the Edgbaston Test.
As per a Cricbuzz report, skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara will be the first picks for the England tour. Pujara has been in outstanding form in the ongoing County Championship in England, having scored four hundreds, including two doubles for Sussex across nine innings.
Shikhar Dhawan, who captained the side in Sri Lanka last year, is likely to take over the reins once again for South Africa T20Is, with Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik adding to the batting core. There are doubts over Suryakumar Yadav’s inclusion, as the right-hander has been ruled out of the IPL with a left forearm muscle injury.
The selectors have plenty of options to choose from on the bowling front on the basis of the ongoing IPL performances, with speedster Umran Malik, Mohsin Khan, Mukesh Choudhary and Arshdeep Singh having produced impactful performances.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav would be certain starters in the spin department, and so too would all-rounder Axar Patel. Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi are the other contenders.
Among batters, Tilak Verma and Abhishek Sharma have made strong claims, while Ruturaj Gaikwad has regained his touch with a few substantial scores after an unimpressive start to the campaign. Rahul Tewatia could be in line for a T20I debut as well. The coaching staff will be divided for the two tours, depending on a confirmation from head coach Dravid.
