Reports : Injured KL Rahul might out miss third Test against South Africa

The team didn’t want to leave any stone unturned to avoid a series whitewash against the Rainbow nation and to achieve that, the men in blue have been working hard in the nets in Johannesburg. But the team faced a huge set back ahead of the start of the final Test of the series as Rahul suffered an injury to his left knee while facing pacer Ishant Sharma, as reported by CNN News18.

In the first Test of the series, Virat Kohli decided to drop Rahul along with Ajinkya Rahane. But after Shikhar Dhawan's failure to give a good start to the innings in Cape Town, Kohli gave a chance to Rahul in Centurion, but the Karnataka opener failed to make a mark in the innings, scoring only 10 and 4 in the two innings that he batted.

Rahul’s injury now raised the hopes of Rahane’s inclusion in the playing XI for the last Test as the team vice-captain was benched for the first two games. However, ahead of the third Test which seems to be played on an out and out pacer-friendly wicket, Rahane also was seen practising hard for hours in the nets session along with Kohli and Hardik Pandya. The Indian skipper and vice-captain duo faced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami who bowled with new Kookaburra balls.

Before Rahul, it was Wriddhiman Saha who missed the second game due to an injury and Dinesh Karthik joined the squad to perform wicketkeeper’s role in the second Test. However, despite Parthiv Patel's dismal showing behind the stumps, he is expected to get a nod for one more Test, keeping the fact in mind that Dinesh Karthik hasn't kept wickets in first-class cricket for a while now.