KL Rahul

Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli requested a break from the white-ball leg of the tour, opting to participate solely in the two Tests scheduled from December 26-30 at Centurion and from January 3-7, 2024, at Cape Town.

This decision comes in the wake of Hardik Pandya's lingering ankle injury due to which he has been ruled out of the tournament.

Rahul has taken five catches in the tournament so far, with his catch of Mehidy Hasan Miraz, made with an outstretched left hand, being the highlight in Pune. With the bat, Rahul was instrumental in rescuing India from 2-3 against Australia at Chennai with an unbeaten 97 and sharing a match-winning 165-run partnership off 215 balls with Virat Kohli.

The 34-year-old's hundred is his third at ICC Cricket World Cups and the 48th of his ODI career, but it looked all the world like he was going to full short of reaching triple figures when India required 19 runs to win with Virat Kohli himself still 19 short of the landmark.

It was down to Rahul making a stunning comeback to international cricket with a classy 111 not out off 106 balls while Kohli combined astute running between the wickets with dazzling strokeplay to hit his fourth ODI century in as many innings at the venue through an unbeaten 122 off just 94 balls.

If Sunday saw Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma pulverize the Pakistan bowling attack by hitting quick fifties in a 121-run opening stand, then Monday belonged to Rahul and Kohli, who slammed unbeaten knocks of 111 and 122 respectively while sharing a huge 233-run stand for the third wicket.

Rahul has been out of action since being injured during his team Lucknow Super Giants' match in IPL 2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 1, after clutching his right thigh and then limping from the field while chasing the ball to stop a boundary in the second over.

KL Rahul, the captain of Lucknow Super Giants, who has been ruled out from rest of the IPL and the WTC final with a thigh injury, took to social media to give an update about his surgery. "Hi everyone, I just got done with my surgery - it was successful," his Instagram post read.

After consultations with specialists, it has been decided that Rahul will undergo surgery at the earliest followed by rehab at the National Cricket Academy for the same. He is ruled out of the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia, the BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah informed in a release on Monday.

Rahul, who sustained an injury while fielding during their IPL 2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, has been ruled of the tournament. He will be undergoing thigh surgery shortly.Karun, who replaces Rahul at LSG, has so far played 76 IPL games and has 1496 runs against his name.