KL Rahul To Miss West Indies T20I Series Due To Covid-19 Recovery

Cricket Image for KL Rahul To Miss West Indies T20I Series Due To Covid-19 Recovery (Image Source: Google)

India opener KL Rahul, who had tested positive for Covid-19 on July 21, is all set to miss the T20I series against the West Indies, starting from July 29, due to post infection recovery.

In a video posted on July 26 by the BCCI on their Twitter account about T20I squad members like Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dinesh Karthik among others joining the ODI team in Trinidad, netizens were curious about where Rahul was.

But a report by ESPNCricinfo says that Rahul, who has been recovering at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru since flying to Germany for undergoing a sports hernia surgery in late June, will now be available for the ODIs against Zimbabwe in August, giving the T20Is against the West Indies a complete miss.

"He was understood to be a doubt for the T20I leg of the West Indies tour even if he returned the two mandatory negative tests. Depending on the outcome of his cardiovascular tests, Rahul could have been in consideration for the USA leg of the West Indies T20Is, on August 6 and 7. But now it appears certain that he will skip the tour altogether and instead focus on the ODIs in Zimbabwe, which are part of the World Cup Super League," said the report.

After the West Indies tour ends, India are set to play three ODIs against Zimbabwe on August 18, 20 and 22 in Harare. The series will be a part of the ODI Super League determining the qualification for the 2023 Men's Cricket World Cup, for which India has automatically qualified by the virtue of being hosts'.

Rahul has been out of competitive cricketing action since featuring in the IPL 2022 Eliminator on May 25 in Kolkata. His team, debutants Lucknow Super Giants, lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 14 runs at Eden Gardens. Rahul was then named as captain for the five-match T20I series at home against South Africa in June.

But a right groin injury on the eve of the first match in New Delhi ruled him out of the series. The sports hernia surgery in Germany meant that Rahul was ruled out of England tour too. India are currently leading the three-match ODI series against the West Indies 2-0, with the third and final match to be played at Queen's Park Oval on Wednesday.