India vs New Zealand 2016: K.L.Rahul injured, Gautam Gambhir possible replacement for the Kolkata Test

Gautam Gambhir would be eager to make the most out of this opportunity

Indian batsman K.L. Rahul may miss out the second Test scheduled to begin on September 30 in Kolkata, and veteran Gautam Gambhir is the probable replacement for the right-hander. India won its 130^th Test match in its 500^th encounter at the Green Park in Kanpur against New Zealand yesterday; it was during this match that K.L. Rahul suffered a hamstring injury in the second innings.

Gambhir played his last Test match for India back in 2014 at the Oval against England where he managed to score only 3 runs in the two innings. Since then, he has been overlooked by the selectors and is trying hard to make a cut in the National team. It is expected that the Delhi-based player will undergo a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru today.

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What was earlier mentioned as a “slight niggle in the hamstring” regarding Rahul’s injury did not turn out to be as simple as it sounded, and cost him a place in the upcoming second Test.

Hopefully, Gambhir is in perfect shape to fill the gap as he had been in good form recently. The southpaw was the captain of the Indian Blue team in the Duleep Trophy which concluded earlier this month.

Opening the batting for his side, he scored 90 runs and 59 runs in the two innings against India Green and backed it up with a 77-run innings against India Red. Gambhir continued his consistent form and scored 96 and 36 runs respectively in the final match against India Red to steer his team to the coveted trophy.

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Having enjoyed a fruitful career at the top of the order for a considerable period of time for the Indian Cricket Team, Gambhir played many memorable innings for the “Men in Blue”. He played a match-winning innings’ in the both the finals of the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup where India ended up on the winning side each time.

Gambhir has played 56 Tests for India and scored 4046 runs at an impressive average of 42.58 with a top score of 206, while having an equally good record in ODIs scoring 5238 in the 147 ties he featured in.

After being on the verge of making a comeback to the senior side for quite some time now, it will be interesting to see how he fares in the upcoming match.