Rahul out of Galle Test with 'viral fever'

Another health scare has struck the opening Test of the upcoming Sri Lanka-India series, with India batsman KL Rahul ruled out with an unknown "viral fever".

The Board of Control for Cricket in India today confirmed the 25-year-old had been ruled out of Wednesday's first Test match.

The news follows the blow Sri Lanka's hopes suffered when new Test skipper Dinesh Chandimal was ruled out of at least the first Test and possibly the second when he was hopsitalised with pneumonia.

Quick Single: Hospitalised Chandimal to miss Test

The BCCI clarified "there are no major health concners" for Rahul and "he is making rapid progress".

"As a precautionary measure, Rahul is advised further rest and hence will not be available for selection for the first Test match against Sri Lanka," the BCCI's acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said in a statement.

The latest blow is a further setback for Rahul in an injury-plagued 2017.

The opener had surgery on a shoulder he dislocated in the opening Test of this year's Border-Gavaskar series.

The injury didn't prevent the 24-year-old hammering six straight fifties against the Australians to play an influential role in his country's 2-1 series success, but it will see him sidelined for the duration of the lucrative T20 competition. 

Rahul remained behind in Colombo as the rest of the India team headed south to the fort city of Galle, venue for the first Test. He had been expected to join the team today before being ruled out by the team medical staff.

Rahul had scored a fluent half-century in a warm-up match against a Sri Lankan President's XI but had admitted to being "nervous" about his Test comeback following absences from the IPL and India's Champions Trophy campaign and West Indies tour.

"I am still very nervous," he told bcci.tv. "The body is still very unsure and it keeps holding me back every time. That's the biggest challenge coming back from injury.

"You know that you are physically fit and you have done everything that you can, worked really hard, you are feeling stronger, you are feeling fitter.

"But the mind always tells you what if it happens again, what if you have to go through the same grind for three months, what if your shoulder is not ready, what if you come back early?

"There are a lot of questions, a lot of doubts and that's the biggest challenge and fight for me.

Quick Single: Rahul admits doubts on injury return

"I have been enjoying each day and I have been a person who takes it as it comes. If it happens again, it happens again. It's not in my control, I have done everything I can to get back.

"I tried to get my shoulder stronger, my body stronger.

"Once I put my helmet on, I forget all of these things. You see the ball, you see the ball pitched up to you and it has to be driven, you will drive. Your body is used to that for 15 years.

"Injured or not injured, your body just reacts. The fear is obviously there but I will fight it and I will overcome that."

With fellow opener Murali Vijay also missing from this touring party following surgery on a wrist injury picked up in the Test series against Australia, India will be forced to go with a new opening combination.

Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan are the two fit openers left in the squad.