Rinku Singh appeared as a substitute fielder for India on day two of the Boxing Day Test in Centurion despite officially being part of the India A squad that is playing a four-day match against South Africa A in Benoni.

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Rinku Singh, who made his ODI debut in the series ahead of the Test matches on the South Africa tour, was added to the India A squad for the second unofficial ‘Test’ against South Africa A that was scheduled to start on December 26 in Benoni.

However, he was seen in the Indian dugout at SuperSport Park in Centurion on day one of the the Boxing Day Test match when India were batting. On day two, Rinku took the field as a substitute, and has been on it for a major part of South Africa’s innings.

It must be noted that Rinku is neither officially part of the senior India squad for the South Africa Test matches, nor was he named in the team sheet for this game. KS Bharat was named as the 12th man, while Mukesh Kumar and the injured Ravindra Jadeja are the designated 13th and 14th men respectively.

[caption id=”attachment_598168″ align=”alignnone” width=”1014″]Rinku Singh appears as substitute fielder India’s official team sheet for the first Test vs South Africa in Centurion.[/caption]

A few days before the start of the Boxing Day Test, BCCI had announced some updates to both the India and the India A squads, where Rinku’s addition to the latter was especially highlighted.

Since then, there have been no announcements mentioning Rinku’s addition to the senior side. However, it’s still within the rules for India to use him as a substitute fielder.

What do the Laws say?

According to ICC’s Test match Playing Conditions, teams can nominate a maximum of six substitutes in the team sheet. According to Article 1.2.2 of ICC’s latest Test match Playing Conditions, “Only those nominated as substitute fielders shall be entitled to act as substitute fielders during the match, unless the ICC Match Referee, in exceptional circumstances, allows subsequent additions.”

This is not the first instance of a player outside the official squad has appeared as a substitute fielder in international cricket. There have been regular instances of local county players substituting during Test matches in England. In fact, there have been several instances of coaching staff members filling in as substitute fielders as well.

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Rinku SinghMatch CoverageSeries EditorialSouth Africa v India