Thumb injury rules Murali Vijay out of the second Test in Jamaica

Indian top order will see a change with India opening batsman, Murali Vijay getting ruled out of the second Test against West Indies in Jamaica starting on Saturday (July 30). Vijay had sustained a finger injury during the first Test in Antigua. KL Rahul, the back-up opener in the side, will replace Vijay and partner Shikhar Dhawan.

The 32 year old injured his right thumb while batting and has failed to recover sufficiently from the blow. In the first innings of the previous match, a Shannon Gabriel delivery that struck his finger before flying towards the slip cordon made the right-hander miss the entire match thereafter.

It was expected he will be fit for the second match. But, there were no signs of him looking fully fit on ahead of the game. Vijay only stepped out to hit some throw downs towards the end of the session was absent during the fielding drills, running laps around the ground instead of taking catches at slip.

Speaking about the setback, Virat Kohli, India team captain said, “Unfortunately, Vijay has to miss out because of injury. (It’s) not good for him. He’s someone who has always done well for the team, always takes pride in playing for the country. He was not really happy with getting hit in the first innings, (but it) is not in his control.”

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Kohli was, however, happy that he had a sound fall-back option in KL Rahul, saying it makes his job easy as a captain when he has such good bench strength. The 24-year-old Rahul, who replaces Vijay in the line-up for two Tests has enjoyed a fine run of form.

He enjoyed a breakthrough season in the Indian Premier League, where he finished with a season tally of 397 runs playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and later made is ODI and T20I debuts in Zimbabwe, scoring 196 runs while being dismissed only once in three One-Day Internationals. In five Test matches so far, Rahul has notched up two hundreds.

“Well, (Rahul has) been in a very good zone,” Kohli said. “He scored runs in the practice games, he scored in Zimbabwe, we all know that. He had a great IPL season. I think that was the turnaround for confidence as far as he’s concerned. Last year, he had a good tour to Sri Lanka, got a hundred there. Again, didn’t play against South Africa.

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“It’s more a case of a guy waiting for an opportunity. You can see that with him. You can sense it. He wants to play. He’s batting really well, he wants to make it count. He wants to get big runs. I’m confident of his abilities. He’s pretty compact, he’s a solid opener and he’s a great fielder as well. Gives you that wicket-keeping option as well, in case something happens to Saha,” he said.

“He’s all in all, he’s a great package for the team and it’s great to see that he’s going to get a Test match.

India currently lead the series 1-0, having claimed a big win in Antigua. The second Test will get underway at Sabina Park, Jamaica on Saturday.