IND vs SA: A timeline of how untimely injuries hampered KL Rahul's career

Injury is nothing new to KL Rahul, and the latest one has forced him out of series against New Zealand.

India’s KL Rahul, one of the most talented and trusted players with the bat, has been plagued with injuries over the years. 

It was therefore not surprising that just ahead of leading India against South Africa, Rahul found himself struggling to keep up and was ruled out of the series on Wednesday. 

Rishabh Pant was given the reins of the side, promoted from vice-captain to captain and Hardik Pandya took up the vice-captaincy. 

But injury is nothing new to 30-year-old Rahul. But this fresh injury has given a reason to draw the attention of the Indian cricket fans towards a Timeline of KL Rahul’s untimely injuries since the start of his international career in 2014. 

Rahul ruled out of Bangladesh Test 2015

Rahul, who started his Test career with a scintillating century against Australia at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2014, was found ill before a Test against Bangladesh in 2015. 

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur confirmed that Rahul had "an illness" and will not join the squad. It was later found out that the Karnataka batter was suffering from dengue.

Injured before England tour 2016

Rahul, whose India career was very young then, was scoring well while playing against New Zealand at home. However, he injured his hamstring during the first Test and missed the remaining two Tests and the rest of the ODIs of that series. He then went on to miss the first two Tests of England’s tour of India in 2016. 

Shoulder injury sidelines Rahul from IPL 2017

After the 2016 injury, Rahul suffered a career-threatening injury in 2017 just ahead of the Indian Premier League 2017. As part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore set-up, Rahul missed out on the IPL with a shoulder injury he sustained during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.

Rahul hurt his left shoulder in the very first Test of the five-match series but continued to play through the pain for the rest of the series and it aggravated his injury. 

Rahul misses Champions Trophy 2017

After the IPL, Rahul missed out on the Champions Trophy 2017 where India lost to Pakistan in the final in England. Rahul had to move to London for surgery. 

“The doctor said it will take 2-3 months. Each body is different, so you don't know how it recovers," Rahul was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo after the surgery. "It is totally up to me and how well I take care of myself in the rehab phase. For now, it is 2-3 weeks of relaxing and after that, I will start physiotherapy. My rehab will start from there,” he had said. 

Misses Galle Test against Sri Lanka 2017

Just after his recovery from the prolonged shoulder injury, Rahul was drafted into the India squad for the Sri Lanka tour. After scoring a fifty in a two-day practice game, the then 25-year-old Rahul suffered from viral fever and missed the first Test of the series at Galle. 

Ruled out of Australia series 2021

From late 2017 to 2020, the Karnataka batter had a great patch as no injury stopped him from playing with full freedom and he was doing great as well as he was named the vice-captain of the Indian team and led it against New Zealand in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. 

However, on a tour of Australia in 2021, Rahul was injured and during  India's practice session at the MCG, he even hurt his wrist. Rahul had not played either of the first two Tests against Australia on that tour, but there was potential for him to slot into the XI in Sydney given Mayank Agarwal's poor run at the top, however, the injured wrist sent him back to India. 

Rahul suffers appendicitis in IPL 2021

When it's not an injury, it is an illness for Rahul, but somehow or the other just keeps fighting bouts with adversities to keep playing international cricket. During IPL 2021’s India-leg, he was diagnosed with acute appendicitis after being rushed to hospital following complaints of severe abdominal pain at the Punjab Kings' team hotel in Ahmedabad. 

Suryakumar Yadav replaces Rahul for New Zealand Tests 2021

Post the T20 World Cup 2021, KL Rahul was sidelined from the two-Test series against New Zealand with a strain in his left thigh. He underwent rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, and Suryakumar Yadav was added to the squad in his place, two days out from the start of the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur.

Rahul ruled out of T20Is against West Indies, Sri Lanka series 2022

KL Rahul, who was India's vice-captain during the limited over series against West Indies missed three T20Is against West Indies. Rahul sustained an upper left hamstring strain while fielding during the second ODI. The injury also prevented his participation in the final ODI and further ruled him out of T20I and Test series against Sri Lanka. 

Injured Rahul out against South Africa 2022

A day before the first match of a five-match T20I series against South Africa, Rahul was ruled out of the series Wednesday evening. 

In Rahul's absence, Rishabh Pant, the designated vice-captain, will lead the side, and Hardik Pandya, who recently led debutants Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 title, will be the vice-captain. Along with him, even Kuldeep Yadav was injured. 

It was informed that both Rahul and Kuldeep would "report to the NCA [National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru] where the medical team will assess them further and decide on the future course of treatment".