KL Rahul had been sidelined out of action after he picked up a thigh injury during IPL 2023. After his recovery, he is back into action at cricket nets following his rehab at NCA.
Will KL Rahul play Asia Cup 2023?
Kl Rahul’s availability for the Asia Cup will be updated by this weekend or early next week when he is scheduled to participate in the Practice game in Bengaluru. He might be playing in some of the practice matches, before the final decision about his international comeback.
Currently, KL Rahul is recovering and isn’t at 100 percent fitness. The National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru has not communicated about player fitness to BCCI.
This doesn’t mean he won’t be selected by the selection committee for the squad. NCA experts will be examining his performance in setting up demands of batting and wicket-keeping.
The images and videos the player go around on social media confirm that he has regained his fitness and is capable of handling the workload.
The fellow members who interacted with him in recent days have informed that during the level 3 coaching sessions at the NCA, an expertise team of 15 members consisting of former players have visited the academy who said that he looked in good shape and form.
The close ones of Rahul have also assured that he was able to bring out 85% percent of the workload after his thigh surgery in May due to a Ligament tear during an IPL match. It is said to be that the balance of 15% has to be seen only on the actual match by the sources.
Usually, Players aren’t allowed to participate in practice games until they reach 85% of the fitness regain. The NCA also not gives clearance unless the player plays the match and remains uninjured.
Being a player in international cricketer for almost 10 years, he’s expected for the Asia Cup 2023 which is scheduled to happen from August 30 to September 17.
But he needs to show full fitness in both batting and wicket-keeping on the ODI format before being considered for selection. His body reactions after the day of his performance in the field will be also considered as a factor.
Apart from Rahul, the selector’s committee will be having a tough situation in selecting the players for the 15-member squad. Some players have to be left, not because their performance is not good, but because there is a limit in the squad.
The squad proposed for the big event will have compositions of seven batters, seven specialist bowlers, and one all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
The seven bowlers will consist of four fast bowlers and three spinners. These proposed combinations will exclude the all-rounder Shardul Thakur.
But the requirement of Shardul Thakur will need a sacrifice one fast bowler which could be one of the players like Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, and Jaydev Unadkat.
The Pacers who are included automatically are Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah which could be affected by the performance in the T20I series against Ireland.
Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav will be looking for Axar Patel and Chahal competing for the third spinner’s spot. Ajit Agarkar and the selectors’ committee had to take tough calls for selecting bowlers with numerous choices but fewer in the batting.
