22 Months After Shaheen Afridi Destroyed His Stumps, KL Rahul To Miss Asia Cup 2023 Match vs Pakistan

India wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul has been officially ruled out of the first two Asia Cup 2023 matches against Pakistan and Nepal next month. Ever since chairman of selector Ajit Agarkar‘s revelation about Rahul’s niggle last week, him missing these matches was always on the cards.

It is a significant blow for both the player and the team especially before ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Rahul, whose last competitive match had come during Indian Premier League 2023 almost four months ago, was also forced to miss ICC World Test Championship 2021-2023 final and India’s subsequent tours of West Indies and Ireland.

Spotted batting during India’s six-day camp in Alur, Rahul is not match-fit at the moment. As per reports, he didn’t even participate in the Yo-Yo tests conducted a few days ago.

22 Months After Shaheen Afridi Destroyed His Stumps, KL Rahul To Miss Asia Cup 2023 Match vs Pakistan

Former India captain and current head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed the development around Rahul in a press conference before departing for Sri Lanka. Although Rahul is making “good progress” as per Dravid, he will stay back at the NCA (National Cricket Academy) to regain optimum fitness before joining the national squad.

“KL Rahul is progressing really well but will not be available for India’s first two matches – against Pakistan and Nepal – of the Asia Cup Head Coach Rahul Dravid,” BCCI tweeted quoting Rahul Dravid.

Fans, meanwhile, will definitely miss Rahul’s rivalry with Pakistan pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. It is to be noted that both the express pacers had troubled him during the last few India-Pakistan matches.

Afridi destroying both his defense and the stumps during ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai continues to remain a thing of beauty for Pakistani fans. Speaking of Asia Cup 2022 and ICC T20 World Cup 2022, Afridi and Shah had combined to dismiss Rahul two out of three innings. Co-incidentally, the right-handed batter was out bowled on each one of these occasions.

In what would’ve been Rahul’s first encounter against this lethal duo in an ODI, he would’ve been in a better position to face Afridi and Shah at No. 5 against comparatively older balls despite struggles in the shortest format.

Who Will Replace KL Rahul Vs Pakistan?

Wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan looks the most likeliest of candidates to replace Rahul in the Indian Playing XI against Pakistan on Saturday. While there is no doubt in Kishan’s batting ability, there’s a major concern around this Indian team management’s longing for needless experimentation.

Considering how Kishan has excelled as an opening batter in this format of late, the team management might be tempted to hand him the same role. That said, the same shouldn’t happen at the cost of moving specialist openers to other positions because there is no point in changing the role of settled players to accommodate someone who isn’t part of India’s first-choice Playing XI.