SA vs IND: Ruturaj Gaikwad ruled out of Test series due to finger injury, Abhimanyu Easwaran named replacement

Ruturaj Gaikwad suffered an injury to his right ring finger while fielding in the second ODI against South Africa in Gqeberha. He underwent scans and following an expert consultation, the BCCI Medical Team has ruled him out of the remainder of the tour. He will be reporting to the NCA for further management of his injury. The Men’s Selection Committee has named Abhimanyu Easwaran as his replacement.

Fast bowler Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the four-day match against South Africa A starting on 26th December at Willowmoore Park in Benoni owing to a hamstring injury. The Selection Committee has added Mr. Rajat Patidar, Mr Sarfaraz Khan, Mr Avesh Khan, and Mr Rinku Singh to India A’s squad while Mr Kuldeep Yadav has been released from the squad.  

Meanwhile, India's ace batter Virat Kohli has flown back to India citing a family emergency, and will be returning to South Africa before the first Test match in Centurion. India, after winning the ODI series in South Africa, would be eager to mark dominance in the two-match Test series as well. The T20I and the ODI squad of India saw relatively younger names while most of the senior players will return for the red-ball assignment.

Notably, Rohit Sharma will lead the side in two Tests after Suryakumar Yadav handled the T20I responsibility while KL Rahul led the ODI squad of India. Before winning the ODI series, the T20I series between the two nations ended in a draw after the first match got washed out in Durban.

India A’s updated squad for a four-day match against SA A: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Varma, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Avesh Khan, Navdeep Saini, Akash Deep, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Manav Suthar, Rinku Singh.