IPL 2017

N Jagadeesan, Vishnu Vinod lead race to replace KL Rahul at RCB

by Manuja Veerappa • Last updated on

Jagadeesan has been making giant strides. © Cricbuzz

On their day off, Royal Challengers Bangalore overseas bowlers turned out in good numbers during the trials to find a replacement for injured top-order batsman KL Rahul.

With the 24-year-old local boy, who kept wickets as well in the previous season, unavailable for the entire duration of the Indian Premier League, RCB are looking for an uncapped Indian player.

Four domestic players - Karnataka batsman Pavan Deshpande, N Jagadeesan of Tamil Nadu, Kerala's Vishnu Vinod and Prashant Chopra from Himachal Pradesh attended the trials under the watchful eyes of coach Daniel Vettori. While Jagadeesan and Vinod are regular wicketkeepers who can bat too, Prashant is an occasional 'keeper. Deshpande has had a good run this season and is a proven hard-hitting left-hand batsman and a handy off-spinner. He showcased glimpses of his power-hitting against English bowler Tymal Mills.

With AB de Villiers pulling out of the final of the Momentum One-Day Cup - South Africa's domestic 50-over competition with a back injury, RCB have the option of having Kedar Jadhav or Australia's Travis Head to keep wickets. The 32-year-old Indian , however, hasn't kept wickets for a while but has called on to bowl his offbreaks occasionally.

In such a scenario, Jagadeesan and Vinod may fancy their chances of making the cut. Both are proven talents on the domestic circuit both with the bat and behind the stumps. The RCB think-tank probably wanted to test the four youngsters' ability to handle international bowlers and had Shane Watson, Tymal Mills and Adam Milne bowl to them apart from the regular net bowlers.

Meanwhile, skipper Virat Kohli, who has been ruled out of RCB's first few games owing to a shoulder injury, joined his teammates in Bengaluru on Sunday (April 2) evening. South African AB de Villiers, who is likely to lead in Kohli's absence, was expected to arrive late on Sunday night.

© TNN

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