Centurion, Dec 24:
India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of the two-match Test series against South Africa, beginning December 26.
Gaikwad had injured his right ring finger while fielding in the second ODI in Gqeberha. He missed out the third ODI to undergo scans.
On further assessment, the BCCI Medical Team ruled him out for the remainder of the series.
The 26-year-old had an underwhelming ODI series, scoring only 9 runs in two matches. It was the first time Gaikwad was named in India’s Test squad and the wait for him to debut in the longest format only gets longer, an ICC report on Saturday said.
The men’s selection committe named Abhimanyu Easwaran as his replacement. 28-year-old Easwaran has been named as a standby player in India’s squad before but is yet to make his international debut.
The two-match Test series begins with the Boxing Day Test in Centurion. The second Test will be played between January 3 and 7, 2024 in Cape Town.
India’s tour of South Africa began with a three-match T20I series, which ended in a 1-1 draw. The three-match ODI series was won by the visitors 2-1.
India’s squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Abhimanyu Easwaran, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk).
