England coach Brendon McCullum reacts after Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul’s exits rub salt into India wounds
Already missing the services of run-machine Virat Kohli in the upcoming fixture against England, Rohit Sharma’s Team India suffered a twin blow in the form of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja on Monday.
The Indian duo will miss the 2nd Test against England due to their respective injuries. All-rounder Jadeja sustained a hamstring injury while stealing a quick single in the Indian 2nd innings against England at Hyderabad.
Former vice-captain Rahul complained of pain in his right quadriceps after the series opener between the two teams. All-rounder Jadeja and premier batter Rahul were also the standout performers for the Asian giants in the 1st Test against England. Rahul scored 86 off 123 balls against the visitors in the 1st Test. His teammate Jadeja bagged five wickets and top-scored (87) for India in the 1st innings of the Hyderabad Test.
During a recent interaction ahead of the 2nd Test, England head coach Brendon McCullum shared his views about taking a depleted Indian side in Visakhapatnam on Friday. “Obviously, Jadeja and KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, he is obviously not playing the next game as well. You want to play against the best. But it’s disappointing for the Indian side. But they have also got an incredible talent pool to pick from. So it becomes a bit more difficult, we will do our homework on them,” McCullum said.
On Monday, India confirmed that the hosts have added middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan, spinner Saurabh Kumar and all-rounder Washington Sundar to the Test squad. Earlier, former India skipper Kohli opted to withdraw from the first two Tests against England for personal reasons. England are leading the five-match series 1-0.
“We will enjoy where we sit at the moment and lap up the great experience we have had over the last few days and tomorrow we will travel to Vizag and once we get there, we will start to turn our attention to that game. And have a look at the conditions and make a call. You are not going to get every call right, especially in these conditions, it’s hard to read some of these pitches, right? But we will make a decision and we will try and commit to that and see where we land,” concluded the England coach,” McCullum added.