Asia Cup 2023 : KL Rahul unavailable for the first two games, says Rahul Dravid.

Indian Team head coach Rahul Dravid gave an update on the right-handed batter KL Rahul before the start of Asia Cup 2023. Ahead of their departure to Sri Lanka for the tournament, Dravid said, KL is set to miss the first two Group stage matches of the Asia Cup as he is still recovering from injury. 

The right-handed Indian batter will stay back in Bangalore with the National Cricket Academy and will be assessed again on 4th of September ahead of the super 4 stage. 

“He’s had a really good week with us. Really done well, done a lot of things. He’s progressing really well on the route that we want to take.” “But he will be unavailable for the first part, for the Kandy leg of the trip. The NCA will be looking after him for the next few days while we are traveling”, head coach Rahul Dravid said at the pre-departure press conference on Tuesday, 29 August.

Further he added, “We will reassess on 4th September and take it from there. But the signs are looking good and he’s progressing really well. He will be unavailable for the first two games.”

In his absence along with Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer due to injuries, India have had to struggle to find an ideal player heading into the World Cup. The different experiments came under scrutiny many times but Dravid defended their decisions. 

“Just to give an example, the No. 4 and 5 spots seem to get discussed and talked about a lot, and it gives the impression that we don’t have clarity on who was going to be there, but to be very honest with you, I could have told you 18 or 19 months ago who were the two or three candidates who we were looking at for No. 4 and 5 slots,” “It was always going to be between Shreyas, KL and Rishabh for those spots right from 18 months ago. Obviously, it’s unfortunate that all three of them in that position ended up with injuries in the space of two months. What are the odds of that happening? Nobody can calculate that,” head coach Dravid added. 

Rahul, who still carries a niggle, made the 17-member squad, led by Rohit Sharma, for the six-nation Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He has not played any competitive cricket since he was injured during this year’s IPL season.

Addressing a press conference last week, chief selector Ajit Agarkar had also said, “Rahul, not his original injury but there’s a niggle. We will get a report from the physio at some stage but we all expect him to be fit. If not at the start, by the second or third game, but he’s on track.”

India’s Asia Cup campaign will start on 2 September with the greatest rivals Pakistan in Kandy. Two days later, they will face Nepal in the final group-stage match. 

Cover Credit - BCCIofficial