Key Indian batter likely to be ruled out of England tour, selectors to pick two different squads

Kolkata batter, Ajinkya Rahane has been ruled out of the remainder of the Indian T20 League 2022 due to a grade III hamstring injury. He will be leaving Kolkata’s bio-bubble on Monday evening.

The 33-year-old picked up the injury while opening the batting for Kolkata in the recent game against Hyderabad. He scored 28 runs in 24 balls in that game, which included 3 sixes. Due to the injury, he has also been ruled out of the tour of England. For the unversed, India are due to play one remaining Test against England, which couldn’t take place last year due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

It has been understood that Rahane will head to National Cricket Academy for Cricket in India, where he will be undergoing 4 weeks of rehab. Ahead of the 2022 edition of the Indian T20 League, Kolkata bought the services of Ajinkya Rahane at the auctions. However, the Indian cricketer didn’t fare too well with the bat. In 7 matches played for the franchise, he could only manage to score 133 runs at a dismal average of 19.

Meanwhile, selectors are set to pick two different squads as India will be taking on two different assignments in the month of June. The senior team will be heading to England for the tour. Regular players such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant to name a few will be in England.

In addition to that, a different squad will take on South Africa for a five-match T20 series at home. If reports are to be believed, then young players such as Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Tilak Varma etc. are likely to receive their maiden call-up. Besides, experienced campaigners such as Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik etc. are all likely to make the cut as well.

The five-match T20 series is scheduled to be played from 9^th to 19^th June 2022. The matches will be played in Delhi, Cuttack, Vizag, Rajkot and Bengaluru.