Pranav Ragavendra was stretchered off on Day 1 of the first Youth Test between India U19 and Australia U19 in Rajkot on Sunday. The 18-year-old fast bowler was seen limping while fielding and was taken to hospital for scans.
Reports point to a foot injury. There is no official update on the Pranav Ragavendra injury yet. It is a blow to an India side that swept the Youth ODI series 3-0 on a tour where Aaryavir Sehwag and Anvay Dravid were named in the squad.
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He had opened the bowling and done his job. His 10 overs cost only 25 runs, and India reduced Australia to 27/3 at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.
| Day 1, 1st Youth Test | |
|---|---|
| Pranav Ragavendra | 10-1-25-0 |
| Australia early | 27/3 inside 13 overs |
| Unbroken stand | Blake Cattle 93*, Zed Hollick 57* |
| Australia | 171/3 after 64.2 overs |
The stretcher is what everyone saw. The bigger worry is where the injury is, and what a sore front foot does to a fast bowler’s action.
Pranav is the fastest bowler India U19 has ever recorded. He clocked 147.3 kmph at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, after training under Glenn McGrath at the MRF Pace Foundation.
This is not his first setback. In July 2025, journalist Venkata Krishna B reported that Pranav had a stress fracture on the India U19 tour of England. He did not play a match on that tour.
A second injury in 14 months puts his workload back under the spotlight. It adds to the wider debate over how India manage injured players at the CoE, a system Sunil Gavaskar has defended and the BCCI itself has reviewed.
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The front foot is where a fast bowler’s whole delivery ends. All the run-up speed and all the body weight land on it at the crease, over after over. You can bowl through a sore shoulder. You cannot hide a sore front foot.
The real danger comes on the way back, not in the injury itself. A bowler who does not trust his landing shortens his stride or opens up his front foot without knowing it, and the load moves somewhere else. For a teenager already back from a stress fracture, his first month of bowling will tell you more than the scan.
India now wait on the scan result, with three days of the Rajkot Test still to play.
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