Sri Lanka vs India: KL Rahul suffering from high fever, to miss Galle Test

Colombo: Indian opener KL Rahul, who is suffering from fever, will miss the first Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka at Galle starting July 26 after missed the training on Monday.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Monday confirmed that the Karnataka batsman won't feature in the first Sri Lanka versus India Test "as a precautionary measure".

"The BCCI medical team confirms that opening batsman Mr. KL Rahul is presently down with viral fever. There are no major health concerns and he is making rapid progress, much to the satisfaction of the medical team," said BCCI in a media release.

"As a precautionary measure, Mr. KL Rahul is advised further rest and hence will not be available for selection for the first Test match against Sri Lanka, which starts on July 26 at Galle," added the Indian cricket board.

"The medical team will continue to monitor Mr. KL Rahul’s progress and keep you posted accordingly.," concluded BCCI.

Rahul had to stay back in Colombo for observation because of high fever even though the rest of the squad travelled South on Sunday.

As per ESPNcricinfo, an Indian team's spokesperson said the tests were all negative, and that Rahul was expected to join the squad later on Monday.

The Karnataka batsman had just come out of a four-month long break after he injured his shoulder during the four-match series against Australia.

He then underwent surgery, subsequently missing the 2017 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ICC Champions Trophy.

On his comeback, Rahul scored a quick fifty in the two-day warm-up match in Moratuwa, but he said he was nervous making his comeback after such a long lay-off.

Earlier, opener Murali Vijay, who had suffered a wrist injury during Australia's tour of India, complained of pain in his right wrist, while playing a preparatory match and was eventually ruled out of the Test series. He has been replaced by Shikhar Dhawan.

The right-handed opener had missed only one match against Australia out of India's long home season of 13 Tests and had later revealed he had been playing with a fractured wrist.

Dhawan, who is a regular in the Indian ODI side, last played a Test for India in 2016 against New Zealand.

The left-handed opener has so far played 23 Tests and averages 38.52. He scored 1464 runs, which included four centuries.

Squad:

Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice captain), Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, W Saha (wicketkeeper), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.