KL Rahul shrugs off injury concerns with batting practice at WACA

KL Rahul, who was hit by a rising Prasidh Krishna delivery during the team's simulation match on Friday, raising concerns about his availability for the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test, batted in the team's training session on November 17 (Sunday) at the WACA in Perth. 

That would be a comforting factor for the Gautam Gambhir-led management, which has been dealing with serious blows to the squad composition after losing Shubman Gill to a thumb fracture and the reported absence of Rohit Sharma for the birth of his second child.

According to the report on ESPNCricinfo, Rahul batted in the middle on Sunday and did not show any visible signs of discomfort. However, the report added that he didn’t look as fluent with the bat as compared to when he opened with Yashasvi Jaiswal on Friday.

There is no official confirmation yet on Gill’s injury status, but he skipped Sunday's training session. In his absence, it is yet to be known who will step into the No.3 role, which the Punjab batter has been donning since the onset of the calendar year. 

On the back of a shambolic 3-0 series loss to New Zealand at home, India are desperate to make amends to their Test fortunes. They have good memories of 2018-19 and 2020-21 Australia tour to bank upon, but the absence of several key players from that side would mean India have to employ a very different strategy for the five-match series.

As far as Rahul and Gill are concerned, both of them have good memories of Australia. It was in Melbourne back in 2014 that Rahul made his Test debut, and in Sydney in the same series, he scored his first century in red-ball cricket at international level. Meanwhile, Gill’s Test career really took off after his success in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy - especially after his contribution in the Brisbane Test that helped India secure a historic win.

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