IND v AUS: Net bowler Ishan Porel suffers hamstring injury, sent home from Australia tour

Highly-rated India bowler Ishan Porel has returned home from the Australia tour after suffering a hamstring injury.

The 22-year-old traveled to Australia with the India squad as a back-up bowler who could help the batsmen practise in the nets but is now back home to assess the degree of the damage.

Ishan Porel, who was with the Kings XI Punjab in the 2020 IPL, didn't play a single game but his impressive performances in the Ranji Trophy were enough to land him a spot in the touring party to Australia.

Porel will now report to the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore to assess how bad the injury is. He will be hopeful of returning to cricket for Bengal, with the domestic season due to begin later this month with the Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy.

An anonymous BCCI source told PTI:

"Ishan Porel has a hamstring injury and is already back in India for the past few days. It's a hamstring injury but the degree of it can only be assessed once he goes to the NCA for assessment. If it’s a grade 1 tear, there is every chance that Porel will miss the Mushtaq Ali Trophy which is not great news for Bengal. We will now have to wait and see how his rehabilitation goes in Bengaluru. Hope he is not out for too long."

Porel has also represented India A on a few occasions, with his most recent tour coming against New Zealand, where he took ten wickets in four games.

Only one net bowler left in India ranks for Australia tour after Ishan Porel injury

Ishan Porel had traveled to Australia to help out the batsmen practice during the net sessions. He was one of the four net bowlers selected, along with Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi and T. Natarajan.

However, Nagarkoti did not travel because his body needed workload management while Natarajan was added to the India one-day and T20I squad. With Porel now injured, Tyagi is the only net bowler available to India for the rest of the tour.