KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav ruled out of home T20I series against SA, Pant to lead

KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav ruled out of home T20I series against SA, Pant to lead: In a massive blow to team India ahead of the five matches T20I series against South Africa, stand-in Indian skipper KL Rahul along with chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav have sustained injuries and are ruled out of the home series against SA. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday confirmed the developments.

While KL Rahul, who was given charge of team India in Rohit Sharma’s absence, has sustained a right groin injury, Kuldeep Yadav has taken a blow in his right hand while batting in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.

BCCI has further handed over the captaincy of team India to Rishabh Pant, who was earlier named as the deputy of KL Rahul, while all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be Pant’s deputy for the five matches T20I series against South Africa, starting tomorrow.

“Team India Captain KL Rahul has been ruled out of the T20I series against South Africa owing to a right groin injury while Kuldeep Yadav will miss out in the T20I series after getting hit on his right hand while batting in the nets last evening,’ said the Indian cricket board in a statement released.

Both the abovementioned injured cricketers will report to the National Cricket Academy for their rehabilitation. The medical team will assess the extent of the injuries and decide the further course of treatment.

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Meanwhile, the BCCI also confirmed that no replacements have been called for the two injured players. 

Notably, with KL Rahul being ruled out, young opener Ruturaj Gaikwad will get the opportunity to open the innings with southpaw Ishan Kishan.

South Africa-led by Temba Bavuma will face hosts India in the T20I opener tomorrow at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium. The two sides will then head to Cuttack for the second T20I followed by Vishakhapatnam and Rajkot. The fifth and final T20I will be staged at Bangaluru’s M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Down below is India’s depleted squad for five T20Is against South Africa.

Indians Squad: Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda, Avesh Khan, Dinesh Karthik, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.

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