The Indian batter Sai Sudharsan has been ruled out of the upcoming two-match test series against Sri Lanka due to injury.
He failed to recover from the injury and is currently in rehabilitation at BCCI‘s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.
The top order batter who was named in India’s test squad is subjected to fitness had to stay in CoE while the rest of the squad travelled to Sri Lanka earlier this week.
He had been undergoing rehabilitation for a toe injury and had resumed batting at the nets as part of his recovery.
With the first test scheduled to begin on August 15, the medical team has confirmed that Sai Sudharsan is not ready to return to international cricket.
According to reports, the development is to ensure the batter regains full fitness rather than rush him back for the series.
Sai Sudharsan has been an integral part of India’s test squad after a promising start in the long format.
His absence leaves India to look for a replacement for the test series. However, several reports suggest that Sarfaraz Khan and Shaik Rashee has been emerged as a potential replacement for the injured batter.
The India squad has been hit with a long list of injuries, with Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah having been ruled out for the test series.
Sai Sudharsan missed India’s warm-up fixture in Sri Lanka and will be joining the squad once cleared by the CoE medical staff.
Currently, he is making progress in his recovery from a stress reaction in his right foot and has returned to batting and fielding drills.
Despite batting for a 75-minute batting session in the nets, he continues to experience pain in the toe of the affected foot. The pain has varied in duration after batting and running sessions.
Sai Sudharsan has played 7 tests and scored 383 runs at an average of 31.91, which included three fifties. He made his last test appearance against Afghanistan in June.
The two-match test series will begin on August 15 at Galle International Stadium, with the second test scheduled to start on August 23 at Colombo.