Pacer Avesh Khan has been added to the Indian squad for the second Test against South Africa, which kicks off on Wednesday, January 3 at the Newlands in Cape Town. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced his inclusion on Friday, December 29, a day after India’s loss against South Africa in the Boxing Day Test at Centurion.
Avesh Khan has been added to the Test squad as Mohammed Shami’s replacement. Shami was included in the Indian squad earlier, however, he was ruled out as he couldn’t get clearance from the BCCI medical team before the start of the series. After the loss at Centurion, the selectors have added Avesh Khan to the team.
The BCCI, in a release, said, “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.”
🚨 NEWS 🚨
Avesh Khan added to India’s squad for 2nd Test.
Details đź”˝ #TeamIndia | #SAvINDhttps://t.co/EsNGJAo8Vl
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 29, 2023
Avesh Khan is yet to make his Test debut for Team India. He has taken 149 wickets in 38 first-class games at 22.65. He was also part of the ODI team recently, which won the three-match series in South Africa. The pacer took five wickets in the four-day tour match against South Africa A at Benoni.
Rohit Sharma opens up on India’s lacklustre bowling performance
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma spoke about India’s lacklustre bowling performance in the first Test against South Africa. He expressed that India conceded a lot of runs as it wasn’t a 400 pitch. India bowlers struggled to pick wickets and contain runs during the match. Rohit Sharma said,
“This was not a 400-run wicket and we gave too many runs. We sprayed the ball all around, but it happened. One can’t depend on one particular bowler (Bumrah), the other three pacers also needed to perform their roles, we could learn from how South Africa bowled.”
India’s squad for the 2nd Test: 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
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