Perth: Just a week before the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test begins in Perth, KL Rahul took a blow to his right elbow and was forced to leave the field during India’s intra-squad match simulation at the iconic WACA ground on Friday.
After three days of nets sessions at the WACA, India went about their match stimulation, where Rahul made 29 before being hit on his right elbow by a climbing delivery from tall pacer Prasidh Krishna.
As per the visuals, Rahul was in immense discomfort and had to walk off the field after being attended by team physio. Rahul, 32, is in line to open the batting for India alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal at the Perth Stadium if skipper Rohit Sharma misses out due to personal reasons.
As of now, there has been no word yet from the Indian team on Rahul’s right elbow injury. Talismanic batter Virat Kohli, who was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald about undergoing scans for an unidentified injury in Perth, hit some gorgeous cover drives before being dismissed and then spent time practicing his batting in the adjoining nets.
Kohli last hit a Test century against the West Indies at Port of Spain in July 2023, but managed to hit just one half-century and averaged just 21.33 across India’s five home Test matches against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
But Kohli’s record in Australia is highly encouraging – amassing 1352 runs in 13 games here at an average of 54.08, including six centuries and four fifties. In the updates coming from the intra-squad practice game, Kohli, Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel have been caught edging behind, while Rishabh Pant was castled by Nitish Kumar Reddy.
The 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy will see India and Australia play Test matches in Perth, Adelaide (pink-ball match), Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney from November 22 to January 7, 2025.
India have won the marquee series here over Australia by 2-1 margins in 2018/19 and 2020/21 respectively. It will also be the first five-match Test series between India and Australia since 1991/92.
–IANS
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