India have been dealt a blow ahead of next month's tough tour of Australia with pacer Praveen Kumar on Tuesday ruled out of the Tests there besides the entire ongoing ODI series against the West Indies due to a fractured rib.
Published: Nov 29, 2011, 04:29 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 29, 2011, 04:29 PM (IST)
Praveen Kumar has been ruled out of action for about 5-6 weeks © Getty Images
Mumbai: Nov 29, 2011
India have been dealt a blow ahead of next month’s tough tour of Australia with pacer Praveen Kumar on Tuesday ruled out of the Tests there besides the entire ongoing ODI series against the West Indies due to a fractured rib.
What was on Monday described as “a blunt chest on the left side”, which ruled him out of the first three ODIs of the ongoing series against the West Indies, was on Tuesday declared a fractured rib by the BCCI needing over a month’s recovery time.
“Praveen Kumar underwent a scan Tuesday (28 Nov 2011) evening, and was found to have a fractured rib, as per the report that came through on Tuesday,” the BCCI said in a statement.
“He is expected to recover in 5-6 weeks and has therefore been ruled out of the ODI series against the West Indies, as well as the Test series in Australia that follows,” it added.
While Abhimanyu Mithun has replaced for the ongoing ODIs against the West Indies, Praveen’s replacement for the four Tests against Australia, starting December 26, will be announced on Monday next.
“His replacement for the Australia tour will be named on 5 December 2011, when the selectors meet in Ahmedabad to pick the Indian team for the last two ODIs against the West Indies,” the BCCI said.
Praveen suffered some pain after the Twenty20 match against England on October 29 and requested for a two-week break.
He then played the Ranji Trophy match for Uttar Pradesh against Saurashtra in Meerut where he aggravated the problem.
Ahead of the first ODI today in Cuttack, India’s stand-in captain Virender Sehwag had described Praveen’s injury as a “niggle”.
Praveen has been battling quite a few injury problems this season. The 25-year-old had been ruled out of the World Cup due to a tennis-elbow injury.
He had also sustained an ankle injury during the Test series in England in July-August.
Praveen has 27 wickets from six Tests and 69 scalps from 61 ODIs under his belt.(PTI)
