The BCCI has named Ishan Kishan as a replacement for KL Rahul in the Indian squad for the WTC Final 2023 against Australia next month.
New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals’ explosive opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal should have been selected as injured KL Rahul’s replacement in the Indian squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, according to former England captain Michael Vaughan. India will be playing Australia in the WTC final starting from June 7 at The Oval.
Vaughan’s statement comes after Jaiswal raced to the fastest Indian Premier League fifty, reaching the milestone in just 13 balls during their IPL 2023 match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. Jaiswal finished with 98 not out in just 47 balls. The BCCI has announced young wicketkeepet-batter Ishan Kishan as Rahul’s replacement.
Vaughan took to Twitter and said, “I would have selected @ybj_19 as KL Rahul’s replacement for the World Test Championship final… He is that good. He is going to be a superstar. #India.” After that knock, Jaiswal (575 runs) also is just one run shy of equalling RCB skipper Faf du Plessis (576) for most runs in IPL 2023.
India have been plagued by injuries ahead of the WTC final 2023. After Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant were already ruled out of the mega clash, the Indian team suffered a major blow when Shreyas Iyer and Rahul were ruled out. While Iyer was down with a back injury, Rahul injured his thigh while trying to stop a boundary from du Plessis during Lucknow Super Giants’ home game against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Ekana Stadium earlier this month.
From the naked eye, it looked like it was a hamstring injury, but later on, scans revealed Rahul sustained a hip injury. Knowing it would need a surgery, the wicketkeeper batter ruled himself out of the WTC final and remainder of IPL 2023. Not only Rahul and Iyer, the Indian team is also optimistic about Jaydev Unadkat’s availability after injured his shoulder while bowling at LSG nets.
