KL Rahul ruled out of first Sri Lanka Test

India opening batsman KL Rahul has been ruled out of the first Test against Sri Lanka starting July 26 in Galle owing to his failure to recover from viral fever. It was earlier reported that Rahul had not travelled with the team to Galle from Colombo, and the BCCI has now confirmed that the 25-year-old has not gained match fitness ahead of the series opener.

This adds a tinge of worry to the Indian camp as Rahul had only just recovered from a shoulder injury that had made him sit out of the IPL and international cricket since March 2017.

While the batsman was still unsure about his shoulder and had said that his body keeps 'holding him back' every time, his recovery from that injury looked to be complete, and he was expected to be a sure starter for Galle.

However, this new tryst, an illness this time and not an injury, adds to the right-hander's compounding problems when it comes to match fitness and availability for fixtures. Rahul had already missed the Champions Trophy and the limited-overs series against the West Indies.

It must be noted that Rahul had risen to prominence in white-ball cricket after a century on ODI debut against Zimbabwe last year which was followed by another century, albeit in a losing cause, in a T20 match against the West Indies in Florida.

Sri Lanka has sweet memories for the Karnataka-born, as during the last tour to the island in 2015, Rahul had scored a century (108) in Colombo in the first innings of the second Test -- which was also Kumar Sangakkara's last match.

In Rahul's absence, Abhinav Mukund is likely to open alongside Shikhar Dhawan, unless captain Virat Kohli bets on Cheteshwar Pujara to open the innings, again, just like he had done in the third Test of the 2015 series.

Rahul's Test career has been a mixed bag of big scores and single-digit outings but averages an impressive 44.44 from 28 innings. His highest Test score of 199 had come in the 5th Test of England's tour of India 2016-17 in Chennai.

Mukund had last played a Test in Bengaluru against Australia in February this year while Dhawan's last India appearance in the whites was in the 2nd Test against New Zealand in Kolkata in October last year.

While Rahul is sure to sit out of the first Test, it would be ideal for India if he regains match fitness for the remainder of the series. Since Rahul's debut, India have played 28 Tests out of which he's featured in 17, while being unavailable for 6 Tests and dropped for the remaining five.

Feel for @klrahul11. Been missing too many games and now another. Hopefully will sort health issues and be back. Very exciting player

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 24, 2017

KL Rahul unavailable for first Test v Sri Lanka. Down with viral fever. Recovering well but needs rest. @bcci #cricket #INDvSL

— Anand Vasu (@anandvasu) July 24, 2017