India vs New Zealand: Hosts sans KL Rahul arrive in Kolkata ahead of 2nd Test

Kolkata: Led by skipper Virat Kohli, the Indian Test squad sans opener Lokesh Rahul and coach Anil Kumble arrived in Kolkata along with the New Zealand team ahead of second cricket Test starting on Friday. Rahul has been ruled out of the match because of a hamstring injury while Kumble is slated to join the team tomorrow morning ahead of their practice session at Eden Gardens in the afternoon, local manager said. [caption id=“attachment_3023458” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Spin twins Ravindra Jadeja (L) and Ravichandran Ashwin arrive in Kolkata ahead of the 2nd Test with New Zealand. PTI[/caption] There is speculation that left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir may replace Rahul for the second Test. Gambhir’s impressive show in the recent Duleep Trophy, where he scored four back-to-back half-centuries including two 90 plus scores, has again somewhat brought him back in focus. However, till late evening there was no such announcement in this regard. “We have no news of Gambhir joining the team,” the India local manager said. India have a back-up opener in left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan. Gambhir had played the last of his 56 Tests against England at The Oval in August 2014. Rahul had sustained the injury while batting in the second innings of the Kanpur Test, which India won by 197 runs on Monday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The Black Caps, meanwhile, arrived with Jeetan Patel in place of injured off-spinner Mark Craig.