Shoulder injury sidelines Rahul from IPL

Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman KL Rahul will miss IPL 2017 with a shoulder injury he sustained during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. According to a source from within the team, he will soon be travelling to London to undergo surgery.

It is understood that Royal Challengers had been looped in on Rahul's situation and were prepared for his imminent injury-enforced exit from the tournament. The 24-year old had hurt his left shoulder five weeks ago, in the first Test against Australia, but continued to play through pain for the rest of the series.

Royal Challengers did not name a replacement as they felt they had enough players who could step up to keep wicket. "His absence will be definitely felt by the team but both Kedar Jadhav and AB de Villiers are accomplished wicket keepers and we would look at one of them to take up the charge," coach Daniel Vettori said.*

During the second Test in Bengaluru, when he made two match-winning fifties, Rahul spoke about how the injury restricted him from playing extravagant strokes.

Overall, with six half-centuries from seven innings, he finished the third-highest scorer on either side with a tally of 393. Along with Cheteshwar Pujara, Rahul was India's batting mainstay, helping them win back the trophy. In fact, he struck the winning runs in Dharamsala that sealed the 2-1 result.

Rahul is Royal Challengers' second major injury setback after captain Virat Kohli had also been ruled out for at least a "few weeks" at the start of the IPL. He was the team's third-highest run-getter in the last IPL, behind only Kohli and AB de Viliers, with a tally of 397 from 12 innings.