Senior Team India wicketkeeper-batter and Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul sustained an injury on his right thigh during an IPL match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday. (More Cricket News)
Rahul limped off the field with the help of team physio and a teammate, who was in the reserve. He was finding it difficult to walk and lay on the ground, writhing in pain for quite some time after what seemed like a pulled thigh muscle while chasing the ball racing to the boundary.
He first held his right thigh and limped before collapsing onto the ground.
The injury happened off the last ball of the second over when Faf du Plessis punched a Marcus Stoinis delivery through the extra cover region and Rahul sprinted to save an imminent boundary.
The extent of the injury is yet to be ascertained and it remains to be seen if the LSG skipper is in a position to bat when his team comes out to chase.
If it is a muscle tear and not a pull, his participation in the World Test Championship final, where he is a wicket-keeping option, could be in jeopardy.
REPLACEMENT OPTIONS: ARSHDEEP, YASHASVI, KISHAN
If Rahul has a grade 1 or 2 quadriceps injury, he could well be out for six to eight weeks, but in that case, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid need to see what is the requirement.
The Indian team hasn't made its stand-by list official for the WTC final.
Kona Bharat has always been their first-choice keeper and not Rahul. They can bolster the batting by taking the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has a double hundred and hundred in Irani Cup.
The other top-order option is Abhimanyu Easwaran while the keeping option is Ishan Kishan, who has been initially dropped because Rahul is in squad of 15.
In case Unadkat sustains a dislocation, then he could be out for a good two-month period and the only quality left-arm option available for the team management is Arshdeep Singh, who is supposed to play for English county Kent in June after the IPL gets over.
The other options are right-armers -- Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini -- but they will also be in the reckoning as Umesh Yadav (dodgy hamstring) and Shardul Thakur (unknown niggle) also don't seem to be in the best of shape.
