Ajinkya Rahane ruled out of IPL 2022, unlikely to be available for England tour: Reports
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener Ajinkya Rahane has reportedly been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL 2022 season. The 33-year-old suffered a Grade III tear to his hamstring during KKR's previous game against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday, May 14.
Although he continued batting, Rahane was clearly struggling to run between the wickets. He perished trying to play a big shot and unfortunately couldn't come out to field in the second innings.
From the Dressing Room: “There were a lot of lessons to learn from the way Ajinkya batted after getting injured last night” 💜
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A report from Cricbuzz suggests that Ajinkya Rahane will now head to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and will need at least four weeks of rehabilitation.
This means that there are doubts over his availability for the England tour. With the Indian team reportedly set to leave for England on June 16, it will be a race against time for Ajinkya Rahane to get fit for selection.
The former Indian vice-captain was dropped for the Test series against Sri Lanka and was anyway unlikely to be in the playing XI for the Test match against England at Edgbaston, starting July 1. But, this serious injury has cast doubts on whether he will even be a part of the traveling squad.
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According to reports, Ajinkya Rahane is set to miss the remainder of IPL 2022 with a serious hamstring injury.
The Indian batter is also likely to miss the tour of England in June-July.
We wish him a speedy recovery 💪
📸: IPL
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How will KKR cope in Ajinkya Rahane's absence?
Rahane didn't have a great season with the bat, having scored just 133 runs. But he was a part of a KKR team that had won their last two games convincingly against the Mumbai Indians (MI) and SRH.
KKR are still alive in the race to the IPL playoffs 2022 and looked to have found the right balance in their side by bringing back Sam Billings in place of the injured Pat Cummins. However, Rahane's absence means that Kolkata might have to go back to Aaron Finch at the top of the order.
But that is another problem for them as the Australian white-ball captain hasn't been in great form. The fact that they might have to leave out Billings to accommodate Finch makes this decision even tougher.
It will be interesting to see how this injury-hit KKR will line up for their crucial and final league game against the Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday, May 18.