India vs South Africa: Avesh Khan replaces Mohammed Shami in Test squad

Avesh Khan has been named as Mohammed Shami’s replacement for the second Test between India and South Africa. India lost the opening Test of the two-match series inside three days on Thursday, going down by an innings and 32 runs.

“The Men’s Selection Committee has named Mr Avesh Khan as a replacement for Mr Mohd. Shami for the second Test against South Africa to be played from 3rd-7th January 2024 in Cape Town,” said a release by the BCCI.

Shami, leading wicket-taker at the ODI World Cup, had been ruled out of the series against South Africa with an ankle injury. The seamer remained in India under the watchful eye of the coaches and physios at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.

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The visitors were also denied the services of Ishan Kishan (personal reasons), Deepak Chahar (family medical emergency) and Ravindra Jadeja (neck spasms before the first Test).

BCCI had named KS Bharat as replacement for Kishan in the Test squad for the series opener in Centurion. However, the selectors opted against naming a replacement for Shami. That has changed following the walloping the visitors received in the opening Test.

Uncapped Avesh Khan is already in South Africa, staying back to represent India A after playing three ODIs earlier. He is currently in the lineup for the four-day game in Benoni, where he took a fifer on the third day.

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Coming into that fixture, Avesh had played 38 first-class matches, taking 149 wickets, averaging 22.65, with seven five-wicket hauls. He was also the highest wicket-taker for Madhya Pradesh in the last Ranji Trophy season with 38 wickets from eight games.

India went down to South Africa inside three days for a hiding to go 0-1 down. The second Test gets underway on 3 January in Cape Town.

India’s squad for 2nd Test: India’s squad for Tests: 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, Avesh Khan