KL Rahul has suffered an injury scare ahead of the first Test against Australia. The Indian players are involved in an intra-squad match simulation at the WACA and KL Rahul opened the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal. He looked fluent during his stay in the middle before one of the short-of-a-length deliveries from Prasidh Krishna rose and hit him on his elbow.
The blow left Rahul grimacing and the physio had to attend him soon. However, after consultation with him, the batter decided to trudge off the ground in a huge injury concern for India ahead of the opening Test in Perth. He handled the short ball well before one hit him on his elbow and it remains to be seen if this blow alters India’s plans before the opener.
Among other batters, even Rishabh Pant copped a blow to his groin and appeared to be shaken according to ESPNCricinfo. The left-hander began his innings aggressively but looked unsettled while facing short deliveries. He was dismissed by Nitish Reddy who was the standout bowler in the first session, also dismissing Dhruv Jurel.
Most of the first-choice XI batters got a chance to spend time in the middle and none of them looked comfortable. While Rahul walked off following a blow to his elbow, Jaiswal got out after scoring only 15 runs. Virat Kohli played a couple of beautiful cover drives but was caught at second slip off Mukesh Kumar on the score of 15 runs.
Shubman Gill looked most comfortable among all batters scoring 28 before he was sent back by Navdeep Saini. Interestingly, the WACA surface has offered considerably less bounce and carry compared to Sheffield Shield matches this season. However, at the Optus Stadium in Perth, the surface is likely to be spicier and the Indian batters are likely to face a tougher examination than this.
