He will not travel to Sri Lanka on Wednesday with the rest of the India squad and instead, continues to work with the physio at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to be “fully fit” and available for the Super Four stage. Will keep. Competition. Rahul will undergo fitness assessment on September 4 before taking a decision on his trip to Sri Lanka.
Head coach Rahul Dravid said that Rahul is “progressing really well” and the team management does not see his unavailability for the early part of the Asia Cup as a setback.
“From our point of view, he will play only two games less,” Rahul said at the conclusion of India’s conditioning camp in Alur, near Bengaluru. “He’s batting really well, he’s keeping… well, he’s doing everything. It’s a bit more of a cautious approach leading into the World Cup.
“He’ll have some match simulations over the next few days, giving him a little longer time in between. We’re hoping he’ll only miss two games, and so he should be available for the latter part of the tour.
“There is also the Australia series, so I am not too worried about that. He is an experienced player, both he and Shreyas (Iyer, who is making a comeback after a long injury) have played a lot of cricket.” “He’s a very experienced player and hopefully we can give him game time.”
When the squad for the Asia Cup was announced on 21 August, Rahul was considered only conditionally fit. While he had fully recovered from the thigh injury sustained during IPL 2023, which required surgery, selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar had said that Rahul suffered a “minor injury” later.
Rahul demonstrated batting in Alur nets
On Tuesday, the final day of India’s six-day camp in Aloor, Rahul practiced in the nets and batted for about 35 minutes, facing the pace, spin and throwdown experts after some light warm-up exercises. However, he did not keep wickets.
Rahul began his season against spin, possibly due to his role at No. 5. He looked to be in great form; He made good use of his feet to hit legspinner Mayank Markande against the turn, used the depth of the crease to bend the balls, and then swept with full force against the two left-arm spinners R Sai Kishore and Manav Suthar. Given. ,
After this, Rahul had to face Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna in the second net against the new ball. Rahul’s focus seemed to be on aligning himself with the bounce, getting behind the line and playing straight or using the pace to take the ball behind square.
Then, finally, he was at the throwdown specialist’s net, Rahul trying and getting in a good position by ducking against the short ball. After the session, Rahul talked to Dravid and Virat Kohli.
Over the past few days, while Rahul has not had any physical issues, the team management has carefully ensured that his wicketkeeping practice does not become too tiring.
On Monday, he went through keeping exercises that focused on sideways movements, specifically to spin. Although it was a brief session. He was also seen interacting with Rishabh Pant, who spent some time in rehab and fitness practices with the team.
Shashank Kishore is senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo