Jadeja, Rahul ruled out of Visakhapatnam Test

India’s spin-bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and middle-order batter KL Rahul have been ruled out of the second Test in Visakhapatnam, starting on February 2. 

Sarfaraz Khan, Saurabh Kumar and Washington Sundar have been added to the Indian squad for the second Test. All three of them were part of the India A squad, currently involved in a red-ball series against England Lions. The first two are yet to play Test cricket for India.

Jadeja sustained a hamstring injury while batting on day four of the first Test. Meanwhile, Rahul complained of right quadriceps pain after the game on Sunday.

This comes as a huge blow to India, considering they were their top run-getters in the first Test. While Jadeja scored 87 in the first innings, Rahul got 86. On top of that, Jadeja also scalped five wickets in the game.

Despite their efforts, India lost the first match by 28 runs and are trailing 1-0 in the five-match series.

One of Rajat Patidar or Sarfaraz will replace Rahul, but India might struggle to find a replacement for Jadeja. Washington is a like-for-like replacement, but the hosts might not get the same quality with his bowling. 

Washington averages 66.25 with the bat in four Tests but has a bowling average of close to 50. India could play Kuldeep Yadav in place of Mohammed Siraj. The left-arm wristspinner has 31 Test wickets @ 21.55 and was Player of the Match in his last outing.

Sarfaraz, Saurabh and Washington have been in pretty good form of late. In the second four-day game against England Lions, Sarfaraz smashed 161 off 160 deliveries, while Washington scored 57 and also picked up two wickets. Sarfaraz is averaging 69.85 in first-class cricket after 45 games.

Meanwhile, left-arm spinner Saurabh ended the game with a five-wicket haul in the second innings. Overall, the 30-year-old has 290 wickets in 68 first-class games at an average of 24.41.

India's squad for second Test: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Sourabh Kumar.

* Saransh Jain has been named as a replacement for Washington Sundar in the India A squad for the third and final multi-day game against England Lions, starting February 1 in Ahmedabad. 

Avesh Khan will continue to travel with his Ranji Trophy team, Madhya Pradesh and will join the Test squad if required.