Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of the Test series against South Africa due to a finger injury; opener Abhimanyu Easwaran has been named as his replacement.
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Gaikwad was named in the original 16-man Test squad for the South Africa series. However, he has now been withdrawn following a finger injury he suffered during the second ODI against the same opponents in Gqeberha on December 19.
Gaikwad was a part of the squad for all three formats for the South Africa tour. Coming on the back of a successful five-match T20I series against Australia at home where he scored his maiden international century, the young right-handed opener would have expected to continue his good form and cement his place at least in the T20I side.
However, he didn’t start in the T20Is with Shubman Gill being preferred over him, while the two ODIs he played ended up being a disappointment as he failed to get into double digits on both occasions.
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It went from bad to worse for Gaikwad as he has now been ruled out completely from the Test series, with the injury he sustained on his finger serious enough to keep him out of action for a while. India are yet to name a replacement in the squad.
Gaikwad was also part of the India Test squad that took on the West Indies in the Caribbean earlier this year, but did not get a game. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had also received his maiden Test call-up during that tour, was preferred over Gaikwad in the XI and he responded with a big hundred on debut.
Rohit Sharma, who is back leading the India side for the first time after the 2023 World Cup, will in all probability, pair up with Jaiswal once again in the South Africa Test series.
On Saturday (December 23), BCCI announced that Bengal opener, who is also in South Africa with the India A team, has been added to India’s Test squad as a replacement for Gaikwad. Easwaran is yet to make his international debut despite having been around the Indian team for a while now.
🚨 NEWS 🚨
Ruturaj Gaikwad ruled out of the #SAvIND Test series.
The Selection Committee has added Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Avesh Khan & Rinku Singh to India A’s squad while Kuldeep Yadav has been released from the squad.
Details 🔽 #TeamIndia
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 23, 2023
The first Test starts on December 26 and will be played in Centurion, while the second will be played in Cape Town starting January 3.
