KL Rahul is one of the talented and dependable players of Indian cricket but he has been battling with injuries over the years. So it was not surprising that he was ruled out of the entire series on Wednesday just before leading India against South Africa. Rishabh Pant was the vice-captain, so in the absence of KL Rahul, he was handed over the reins of the team and Hardik Pandya took over as the vice-captain.
However, injuries are not new for 30-year-old Rahul. KL Rahul made his international debut in 2014. Since then he has been injured 10 times. Let’s take a look at the number of times he has been injured in the last 8 years.
KL Rahul was ruled out of Bangladesh Test in 2015
KL Rahul made his international debut in December 2014 with a Test match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He could not do anything special in that match, but he scored a century in the next Test match played in Sydney in January 2015. He then fell ill before the Test against Bangladesh. The then Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur had confirmed his illness. Later it was later revealed that this Karnataka batsman was suffering from dengue.
KL Rahul was injured before the England tour in the year 2016
KL Rahul Rahul was scoring well against New Zealand at home. However, he pulled his hamstring during the first Test. He then missed out on the remaining two Tests and the rest of the ODIs of that series. Not only this, he did not play in the first two Tests of England’s tour of India in the same year 2016.
Shoulder injury ruled KL Rahul out of IPL 2017
After a 2016 injury, KL Rahul suffered a fatal injury just before the 2017 Indian Premier League. That season, KL Rahul was part of Royal Challengers Bangalore, but could not play the entire season due to a shoulder injury. He suffered this injury during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. KL Rahul injured his left shoulder in the first Test of the five-match series, but he continued to play with pain. This aggravated his injury.
KL Rahul missed the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 due to injury
After IPL, Rahul missed the Champions Trophy 2017. In that tournament, the Indian team lost to Pakistan in the final. KL Rahul had to go to London for surgery. The doctor had said that it would take 2-3 months for his injury to heal.
KL Rahul missed the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in 2017
After a prolonged recovery from a shoulder injury, KL Rahul was included in the Indian squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. KL Rahul scored a half-century in the two-day warm-up match, but it went viral after that. Due to this he missed the first Test of the series played in Galle.
KL Rahul was ruled out of Australia series in 2021
The period from the end of 2017 to 2020 was very good for KL Rahul. During this he did not face any injury or illness. He was performing brilliantly. He was made the vice-captain of the Indian team. He also led the team against New Zealand in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
However, on the tour of Australia in 2021, Rahul got injured again. He suffered a wrist injury during India’s practice session at the MCG. Rahul was not picked in the playing XI for the first two Tests against Australia on that tour. Mayank Agarwal was likely to be included in the playing XI for the Sydney Test, given his poor performance, but was sent to India due to a wrist injury.
KL Rahul was suffering from Appendicitis in IPL 2021
When there was no injury, some disease surrounded KL Rahul. This is the reason that he has been battling adversity to play international cricket in some way or the other. During the India-leg of IPL 2021, the Punjab Kings team had complained of stomach ache when they were staying at the hotel. He was later diagnosed with appendicitis.
In the year 2021, Suryakumar Yadav replaced KL Rahul in the Test against New Zealand.
After the T20 World Cup 2021, KL Rahul was ruled out of the series due to a strain on his left thigh before the two-Test series against New Zealand. He rehabbed at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and was replaced by Suryakumar Yadav in the squad two days before the start of the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur.
In the year 2022, KL Rahul was out of the series against West Indies and Sri Lanka.
KL Rahul was the vice-captain of Team India during the limited overs series against West Indies, but missed out on a three-match T20I series against West Indies. KL Rahul had strained his left hamstring while fielding during the second ODI. Injury also prevented his participation in the final ODI. Not only this, he was also dropped from the T20 International and Test series against Sri Lanka.
Now KL Rahul got injured again against South Africa
KL Rahul was ruled out of the series on the evening of 8 June 2022, a day before the first match of the five-match T20 series against South Africa. Kuldeep Yadav was also injured along with him. Rishabh Pant was made the captain in the absence of KL Rahul. Recently, Hardik Pandya, who won the IPL 2022 title to Gujarat Titans, was made the vice-captain.