Ajinkya Rahane has suffered a serious Grade III hamstring injury which is set to rule him out of the India tour of England in June-July. The former India captain and vice-captain has already lost his place in the India Test XI, Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer having usurped Cheteshwar Pujara and his positions, but the latest setback could even rule him out for a place in the touring party. The Indian team, expected to be selected in a week’s time, will leave for England around June 16. Rahane is set to exit the Kolkata Knight Riders bubble on Monday evening. He suffered the injury during KKR’s last game, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, on May 14.

Sources within the Board of Control for Cricket in India said he will be reporting at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore where he may need more than four weeks of rehab. In seven games this IPL, Rahane has scored 133 runs, not exactly the number he would be pleased with. The unavailability of Rahane may not be as much a headache as the cobbling together a squad, rather squads, for the selectors. With South Africa playing at home in a five-match Twenty20 series after the IPL, the Chetan Sharma-led committee is expected to pick two teams – one for the tour of England and another for the home series against South Africa.

The situation will be somewhat similar to last summer, when India had one team in England and another in Sri Lanka. It is understood that all the regular players – the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Pujara (who is in a roaring form in the county circuit for Sussex) among others — will be selected for the England tour and will be relieved of the T20I duties against South Africa, who play the matches in Delhi, Cuttack, Vizag, Rajkot and Bengaluru from June 9 to 19.

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Rahane set to miss England tour; selectors to pick two squads

The squad will have a mix of youth, experience and standout performers of the IPL. Tilak Varma, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna and Avesh Khan could be picked along with usual suspects Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar among others. Dhawan may be back as captain. The fitness of Suryakumar Yadav, who is out of the IPL, will be assessed before the selection meeting, expected to take place physically, rather than through a zoom call virtually. Between themselves, the coaching staff will have to divide duties and the nod of head coach Rahul Dravid is awaited on this.

There is a possibility that the squad that plays South Africa will travel to Dublin for the two-match T20I series on June 26 and 28 against Ireland while the seniors could be involved in a tour game in England. Talks are on with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to organise a warm-up match before the Test, in Birmingham, from July 1-5. Rahane suffered the injury during KKR’s last contest, played against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 14 at the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium in Pune. As per a report in the Cricbuzz, the senior batter will undergo rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore which could last more than four weeks.

Rahane though has already lost his place in the Indian Test team after being dropped for the home series against Sri Lanka earlier this year which the hosts won 2-0. He was bought by KKR during the IPL mega auction but he only managed 133 runs from seven matches. Both Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were dropped from the India Test squad following the South Africa tour. While Rahane took part in IPL, Pujara went to play County Cricket in England where he was in red-hot form, peeling off four centuries in a row for Sussex.

Meanwhile, the Indian selection committee is expected to pick two different squads for the home series against South Africa and the England tour. Several senior members including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja will be rested for the T20Is and instead fly directly to England where they are to play one Test.