Sri Lanka vs India: KL Rahul to undergo fitness test ahead of Colombo game
Virat Kohli has a problem of plenty, with, three openers vying for the two slots at the top of the Team India batting order.
Colombo: Opener KL Rahul, on Wednesday, is set to undergo a fitness test on the eve of Team India’s second Test against Sri Lanka, at the Sinhalese Sports Club, in Colombo.
A shoulder injury and poor health have kept him away from international cricket for the last four months. While he was deemed fit ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, the Karnataka batsman contracted flu after a practice match in the island country, ruling him out of the first Test, which India won by a mammoth 304 runs.
"If he gets fit he (Rahul) may replace the player whom he replaced", the source close to the team management said.
It is, however, to be seen how the change in the winning combination would be taken by the player he replaces.
Team India skipper Virat Kohli opted for the combination of Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the order. Both of them played well in the Galle Test with latter missing the double ton by 10 runs in the first innings, while the former scored a brisk 81 in the second.
Abhinav Mukund, who had been brought in as a replacement for Rahul’s regular Test opening partner Murali Vijay, had started the series as the first choice opening batsman for the series. Meanwhile Dhawan, who is a regular opener in the ODI side, was brought in as an extra opener.
It would be interesting to see which of these two openers are dropped to accommodate Rahul.