Star Indian opening batsman Mayank Agarwal has suffered an injury and has been ruled out of the first Test. Notably, Mayank was hit hard on his head during the practice session ahead of India vs England five-match Test series. The absence of Mayank Agarwal will be a huge blow for team India considering he was expected to open the innings with Rohit Sharma.
Mayank Agarwal was last seen playing for India during the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Although during that time he didn’t open the innings and played as a middle-order batsman for the team.
During the pre-match press conference Vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane talked about Mayank’s injury and said:” Mayank Agarwal was hit on the helmet during nets, and is being assessed by the medical team.”
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released the official statement regarding Mayank’s injury. The BCCI release stated:
” Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal was hit on the helmet while batting during India’s nets session at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Monday.”
“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. The 30-year-old is stable and will remain under close medical observation.” added BCCI
Not a great sight as Mayank Agarwal was hit on his head during the net session today at Trent Bridge.
Hopefully he's fit for the first Test match starting on Wednesday. #Cricket #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/yp4jxOA0LL
— India Fantasy (@india_fantasy) August 2, 2021
Virat Kohli-led India is all set to face Joe Root led England in the upcoming 5-match Test series. Also, the marquee five-match Test series will be part of the new WTC cycle. Both the teams will be looking forward to starting the WTC event with a series victory in their name. The first Test match is scheduled to begin from 4th August at Nottingham.
Mayank Agarwal was the top contender to partner with Rohit Sharma
The first choice opening pair of team India in the Test cricket is Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. However, one-half of the opening pair suffered an injury ahead of the marquee series. Shubman Gill suffered a shin injury and was ruled out of the entire five-match series. The expected recovery time for Gill’s injury is at least 3 months. Meanwhile, India included Prithvi Shaw in the squad as a replacement for Shubman Gill.
Now India has few players who can open the innings with Rohit Sharma. Mayank Agarwal was ahead of everyone else in the race to open the innings in the Test series. However now he has been ruled out of first Test. The other choices India has are Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, and KL Rahul. However, some reports claim that India has only drafted KL Rahul in the squad as a middle-order batsman.
“Shubman Gill has got injured. But then that is a blow. I was thinking that Shubman Gill had done okay in the WTC final and will play the first Test as well, but now he will not be available,” Aakash Chopra had said earlier.
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