The Indian cricket team faces a severe injury crisis ahead of the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka.
The Indian cricket team faces a severe injury crisis with key players sidelined ahead of the two-Test series against Sri Lanka, slated to begin on August 15 in Galle.
After Jasprit Bumrah and Washington Sundar, designated No. 3 batter Sai Sudharsan is all but ruled out of the Sri Lanka tour.
Sudharsan sustained a toe injury last month during India A's shadow tour of Sri Lanka. He was picked in the Test squad subject to fitness clearance.
Although the southpaw recently resumed light net practice at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, it is highly unlikely that he will get necessary medical clearances in time for the Test series.
According to a TOI report, Shaik Rasheed or Sarfaraz Khan could be added to India’s squad as a replacement for Sudharsan.
The report also claimed that Sarfaraz has already been at the CoE for his fitness evaluation for over a week, while Rasheed has been instructed to report to the Bengaluru facility on Sunday (August 9).
Rasheed recently scored 45, 63, and 20 during the India A tour of Sri Lanka. He is already on the selectors' radar and was pre-scheduled for a specialist batter camp at the CoE.
The Gautam Gambhir-led management is reportedly worried about the team facing a shortage of specialist batters, and has already conveyed this need to the selectors.
The selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, faced a bottleneck because key alternatives like Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, and Sudharsan himself were actively assigned to the two recent India A fixtures. This arrangement prevented the selectors from testing out a broader group of specialist domestic batters ahead of the senior tour.
While Sarfaraz Khan brings international experience and is also a quality player of spin, he has been advised to bat higher up the order in domestic cricket to better fit the team's current requirements.
The Mumbai batter has also worked on his fitness lately, but the report indicates that Rasheed getting the final nod would not be a surprise as feedback from the coaches at the CoE has been very good for the 21-year-old.
An official announcement from the Indian cricket board is still awaited to confirm the final replacement.
(With TOI Inputs)