Edited by Deepali Verma
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on December 29 announced fast-bowler Avesh Khan as a replacement for pacer Mohammed Shami in the second Test against South Africa, as per an official statement. The second test series is set to start from January 3 in Cape Town.
Shami had to be ruled out of the series owing to an injury. He was originally a member of the Test team. However, his recovery couldn’t happen in time for the series. Having suffered from an ankle injury, he has suspended participation in a competitive game since the World Cup final on November 19.
Avesh’s summon is expected to bolster the pace attack for the Cape Town Test after India suffered a defeat against Proteas in the first match in Centurion.
Avesh was a part of the India’s ODI team that recently played against the Proteas but the bowler is yet to make his Test debut. In the ODI series against the Proteas the pacer played a match-winning role in the series opener at The Wanderers in Johannesburg. He managed 4/27 and severely affected South Africa’s batting order, causing the Proteas to be bowled out for 116 in 27.3 overs. India scored the target in 17 overs and won the game by an eight-wicket margin.
Meanwhile, India had to face defeat in the opening Test of the two-match series by an innings and 32 runs. The Rohit Sharma-led side will now be aiming to bounce back and triumph in the second and last Test of the series to avoid white-wash as the hosts outplayed visitors in all departments.
India’s squad for second Test includes Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran and Avesh Khan.
