By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Indian batter KL Rahul has been ruled out of the third test against England after failing a fitness test and has been replaced in the squad by Devdutt Padikkal, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) said on Monday.
Rahul also missed the second Test in Visakhapatnam with a thigh issue, which India won to level the series 1-1.
It is yet to be confirmed whether all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will return to the XI after a hamstring injury.
Padikkal has been in excellent form this season. Having started with a 193 against Punjab in the opening game, he struck 103 against Goa.
BCCI added that Rahul “has reached 90% match fitness” and is expected to return for the fourth and fifth Tests.
The third Test starts in Rajkot on Thursday 15 February.
Middle order batter Shreyas Iyer was also not named in the squad for the remaining three Tests, leaving a relatively inexperienced batting line-up if Jadeja is ruled unfit.
India squad for third Test: Rohit Sharma (capt), Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.