Mayank Agarwal Injury: What happened to Mayank Agarwal? Who will replace Mayank Agarwal in Trent Bridge Test vs England?

Mayank Agarwal Injury: The Indian opening batsman has been ruled out of the first Test match against England starting from Wednesday.

India batsman Mayank Agarwal has been ruled out of the first Test against England which is scheduled to begin from Wednesday in Nottingham.

In what is doubtlessly a huge blow for the visitors, Agarwal has followed the footsteps of Shubman Gill whom he was expected to replace in the Playing XI.

Agarwal, 30, got hit on the helmet by a Mohammed Siraj short delivery in the nets and subsequently developed symptoms of concussion. The development will prevent Agarwal from adding to his 14 Test caps, the last of which had come during the historic Brisbane Test against Australia earlier this year.

Mayank Agarwal hit on the head off a Siraj bouncer in nets. Given medical attention. Had to leave the nets. Ajinkya Rahane said rest of the players are fit and available for selection #IndvsEng

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) August 2, 2021

Mayank Agarwal Injury

“The BCCI Medical Team assessed him, and a concussion test was conducted. He has shown signs of concussion and is ruled out of the opening Test against England,” BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) said in a statement published on their website.

With Gill and Agarwal not available, India might look to not complicate things and hand a debut to Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran. Having traveled to England as a standby player, Easwaran was included into the main squad after Gill was ruled out of the series. Having said that, Easwaran playing his last competitive match more than five months ago could be a concern for the team management.

To address the issue around current form, India have the option of reversing their stance on Lokesh Rahul by handing him a Test comeback as an opening batsman. Rahul, who had scored a century in the warm-up match against County Championship XI last month, was being prepared as a middle-order option for this Test series.

Hanuma Vihari, who is India’s designated sixth specialist batsman in Test matches, could also be included as a makeshift opening batsman for he has played a similar role in the past at the highest level. Given the above three available options, India shouldn’t unsettle their batting lineup by promoting Cheteshwar Pujara as Rohit Sharma’s opening partner at Trent Bridge.

While a specialist opener in Prithvi Shaw had been named in the Test squad last month, he won’t be available for the first Test (and presumably the second as well) as he continues to be in Sri Lanka after being identified as a close contact of all-rounder Krunal Pandya, who had tested positive for COVID-19 after the first T20I in Colombo.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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