KL Rahul ruled out of India’s first two matches of Asia Cup 2023

India head coach Rahul Dravid on Tuesday, August 29th, confirmed that wicket-keeper batsman KL Rahul will miss the Indian team’s Asia Cup 2023 group stage matches against Pakistan and Nepal. 

As per chief selector Ajit Agarkar, Rahul was picked for the squad despite carrying a niggle, and in his absence, it is expected that Ishan Kishan will take up the gloves for the Indian team. 

Dravid also mentioned that Rahul will not travel with the team to Sri Lanka right away, and instead he will stay back in Bengaluru for a brief period to work with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) physios. 

Speaking to the press at Alur, Dravid said, “KL has had a good week here with us.  He's trained well and done a lot of things. He's progressing really well on the route that we want to take. But he will be unavailable for the Kandy leg of the trip.”

He further added, “The NCA will be looking after him for the next few days while we are travelling. We will reassess on September 4 and take it from there. But signs are looking good and he's progressing really well."

Rahul went under the knife after picking up an injury during IPL 2023 and was set to return to action, and was also reportedly batting well during India’s camp at Alur. However, Rahul will put in the hard yards at the NCA and an assessment of his fitness will be done on September 4 before a decision is made to fly him out to Sri Lanka. 

India will face off against Pakistan in their first group stage clash on September 2, before squaring off against Nepal on September 4, with both matches scheduled to take place in Pallekele.