India have been dealt a major blow ahead of their Test opener against Sri Lanka in Galle after Murali Vijay was ruled out with a right hamstring injury on Monday.
Vijay, who suffered the injury during India’s tour of Zimbabwe last month, has been benched for the first of three Test matches from Wednesday as a precaution.
Vijay has been one of India’s top run-getters in the last 18 months. With the stylish opener ruled out, Shikhar Dhawan is likely to open the innings with the fit-again KL Rahul. The young batsman from Karnataka had missed the one-off Test against Bangladesh in June due to dengue