KL Rahul to miss England tour; to undergo treatment in Germany [Full Details]

KL Rahul is reportedly set to miss India's tour of England as he will be going abroad for further treatment for his recurring groin injury.

The fifth Test between India and England, which did not happen last year due to a covid outbreak in the UK, is scheduled to be played from July 1 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. One batch of the Indian Test squad members, who are not a part of the ongoing T20I series against South Africa, has left for the UK on Thursday. Captain Rohit Sharma will fly out in a week.

Rahul is set to undergo the treatment in Germany, according to a report in CricBuzz.

"That is correct, the board is working on his fitness and he will be going to Germany soon," BCCI secretary Jay Shah told Cricbuzz on Thursday (June 16). Rahul is likely to fly out to Germany by the end of this month or early July.

It goes without saying that Rahul will miss the England tour, where India is to play one Test and six white-ball games - three T20Is and as many ODIs. The Karnataka batsman was named vice-captain under Rohit Sharma for the tour but the India selectors will have to name another deputy.

It is understood that the BCCI is not looking to announce a replacement for Rahul unless the team management requests otherwise. In that case, Mayank Agarwal would be named in the squad. Since Mayank is not in the side, Shubman Gill is likely to open India's innings with skipper Rohit in the one-off Test.

Rahul, who has not played international cricket since February, recently managed to survive the hectic Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, where he captained Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

The right-handed batsman has played 43 Tests, scoring 2,547 runs at an average of 35.37, including seven centuries and 13 fifties.

In the absence of senior players such as Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah, and Virat Kohli, Rahul was named India's captain for the five T20Is against the Proteas at home. However, his groin injury ruled him out and made way for Rishabh Pant to captain India for the very first time.

India's squad for rescheduled 5th Test: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.