Ishan Porel returns to India after picking up hamstring injury in Australia

Bengal fast bowler Ishan Porel has returned to India from Australia after recently picking up a hamstring injury in Sydney. Porel was among the uncapped bowlers who travelled with the India squads from the UAE to Australia after the IPL. Porel returned to India on November 25 and he will now head to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru over the next couple of days.

"I picked up a hamstring injury in the nets in Sydney so I had to fly back," Porel told Cricday. "I will be going to the NCA tomorrow or day after."

Porel, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi and T Natarajan were not named in any of the India squads for the Australia tour initially but travelled with the contingent to spend time with the international players and serve as additional bowlers in the nets. Tyagi is the only additional bowler with the group now after Nagarkoti was pulled out before the squads flew to Australia "as he is still working with the medical team on his bowling workload management," a BCCI release said on November 9.

On the same day, Natarajan was included in the T20I squad as a replacement for Varun Chakravarthy who sustained a shoulder injury during the IPL. Last week, Natarajan was also added to the ODI squad as a cover for Navdeep Saini who complained of back spasm before the series opener.

Porel, 22, was with the Kings XI Punjab in the recent IPL but didn't get a game. He last played the Ranji Trophy in March earlier this year - the drawn final against Saurashtra in Rajkot - after taking a five-for against Karnataka in the semi-final. During the Ranji season he had also toured New Zealand with the A squads and played one four-day game as well as three one-day games, in which he was the joint leading wicket-taker along with Kyle Jamieson. He finished the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy with 23 wickets from just six games at an average of just 18.95.

Overall, Porel has played 22 first-class matches, 25 one-day games and 14 T20s.