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The wicketkeeper-battler Ishan Kishan has been left
off of India’s Test team for the forthcoming series in South Africa. The
southpaw had asked to be dismissed from the team, citing personal concerns,
according to a statement issued by the BCCI on Sunday.
His replacement, KS Bharath, who has played in five
Test matches, will be one of the team’s two wicketkeeper alternatives along
with KL Rahul.
This is the second member from the side to pull out of
the Test squad after it was revealed that Mohammad Shami was ruled out of the
Test series due to a persistent knee ailment. While it was hoped that he could
make a full recovery before the start of the series, the severity meant that
the test series came a little too soon for him.
The first test begins from 26th December at
Centurion followed by the second Test in Cape Town on January 3rd.
India’s squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman
Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul
(wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh
Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk)