Rahul doubtful for third Test after getting hit on knees

Indian opener KL Rahul remained a doubtful starter for the third and final Test at Johannesburg after getting hit during a practice session on Sunday.

Rahul was hit on the knee by an Ishant Sharma delivery while batting in the nets. He limped off immediately after the ball somehow found a way between his pad and thigh guard.

The comforting sign for India was the fact that Rahul returned to complete his net session after applying ice packs. However, there was no official update on the extent of his injury.

 

The 21-year-old Karnataka batsman has been injury prone throughout his career and has missed more matches than he has played. Indian captain Virat Kohli would be hoping Rahul’s injury is not so serious this time around.

India have been struggling in the series to put together a strong opening partnership and if Rahul doesn’t recover in time then Shikhar Dhawan would open the innings with Murali Vijay in the third Test starting from Wednesday.

Dhawan was shown the door after his not so impressive show in the series opener at Cape Town. His replacement, Rahul also failed to make any impact in the second Test match at Centurion.

With 0-2 down, India badly need their openers to fire in order to get a solid foundation on a pitch that has the most amount of grass among the three venues.

India are not the only one suffering with injury concerns, the hosts too have their fair share of troubles in Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram. While Bavuma has been ruled out with a fractured finger, Makram is racing against time to get fit for the final Test.