India’s batting woes do not seem to end as another player has been injured and ruled out of the first Test against England starting August 4 at Trent Bridge Nottingham. Mayank Agarwal was concussed trying to duck a bouncer from Mohammad Siraj in the nets. It has been reported that he fell down at the batting crease and was attended to by the team Physio before walking out holding his head from behind.
This has now posed problems at finding the opener for the team in the first Tets as the top choice openers to partners Rohit Sharma, in Shubman Gill and Agarwal have both been ruled out. Whether or not the team would opt to go with KL Rahul as an opener is a question that could best be answered when we see the team sheet.
The Karnataka batter played at number five in the practice match at Durham and scored a century and has been primarily been looked at middle-order batter. The other two options with the team are Hanuma Vihari and Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was brought in as reserve player. While Easwaran has opened in domestic cricket, Vihari has been used as a stop-gap opener many a time.
Ajinkya Rhane, the team Vice Captain ruled out Cheteshwar Pujara batting as an opener saying, “Pujara is our No. 3 batsman. Who'll open our innings we are again finalising our combination, it's not yet finalised. Pujara has been really solid for us as No. 3 batsman and he'll continue to bat at No. 3.”
"As [far as] opening bat [goes], the captain, coach and management will decide the combination and you'll get to know soon,” he added in a press briefing on Monday, August 2.
However, there was good news for the Indian team as well when Rahane said that he was ready to play in the first Test as he has been declared fully fit.
"I had a small niggle but I'm fully fit now," he said. "Whatever the physios and trainers asked me to, I've completed all those stuffs. I'm looking forward to the Test match. I'm completely prepared.”