KL Rahul suffering from high fever; could miss Galle Test

Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 24 (ANI): Indian opener KL Rahul, who is suffering from fever, could miss the first Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka at Galle starting July 26 after he missed the training on Monday. Rahul had to stay back in Colombo for observation because of high fever even though the rest of the squad travelled South on Sunday. As per ESPNcricinfo, an Indian team's spokesperson said the tests were all negative, and that Rahul was expected to join the squad later on Monday. The Karnataka batsman had just come out of a four-month long break after he injured his shoulder during the four-match series against Australia. He then underwent surgery, subsequently missing the 2017 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Champions Trophy. On his comeback, Rahul scored a quick fifty in the two-day warm-up match in Moratuwa, but he said he was nervous making his comeback after such a long lay-off. Earlier, opener Murali Vijay, who had suffered a wrist injury during Australia's tour of India, complained of pain in his right wrist, while playing a preparatory match and was eventually ruled out of the Test series. He has been replaced by Shikhar Dhawan. The right-handed opener had missed only one match against Australia out of India's long home season of 13 Tests and had later revealed he had been playing with a fractured wrist. Dhawan, who is a regular in the Indian ODI side, last played a Test for India in 2016 against New Zealand. The left-handed opener has so far played 23 Tests and averages 38.52. He scored 1464 runs, which included four centuries. The team is as follows: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice captain), Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, W Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, M Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund. (ANI)