India add fresh face to Test squad as Mohammad Shami’s replacement

Dec. 29 (ICC) - BCCI have announced right-arm pacer Avesh Khan as a replacement for Mohammad Shami ahead of the second Test against South Africa.

Khan, who impressed in the recently-concluded ODI series against South Africa with six scalps, has been added to the India Test squad for the second Test. 

India struggled in the first Test against South Africa and suffered a heavy innings-and-32-run loss.

The India batters got the side to a respectable total in the first innings, and their pacers troubled the South Africa batters early on. However, the Proteas gained a huge lead of 163 runs, taking the charge against Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur, with incisive bowling from South Africa’s pace attack taking the hosts to an innings win.

Avesh is uncapped at the Test level, but has represented India in eight ODIs and 19 T20Is. He has 149 first-class wickets at an average of 22.65.

Squad: 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

The second and final Test between South Africa and India is to be played from 3-7th January, 2024 in Cape Town.