India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik was today (January 16) named as the replacement for the injured Wriddhiman Saha for the third Test against South Africa in Johannesburg starting January 24.
Saha, who missed the ongoing second Test in Centurion against the Proteas due to a "hamstring niggle" is now ruled out of the entire series. Parthiv Patel is doing duty behind the stumps in Centurion. At the toss in Centurion, captain Virat Kohli had said Saha had a "hamstring niggle".
Also read: SA-India series schedule
Bengal stumper Saha, who broke MS Dhoni's record with 10 catches in the opening Test in Cape Town, will return home due to an upper left hamstring tendon injury.
32-year-old Karthik will join the team before the start of the third Test. He is most likely to play, replacing Parthiv, who is not having a good time behind the stumps.
At the end of the third day in Centurion, South Africa had an overall lead of 118 in the second innings with eight wickets remaining.
The Tamil Nadu right-hander Karthik was earlier part of the India ODI squad to face South Africa in six ODIs. Karthik has played 23 Tests and his last five-day game for India was in January 2010 against Bangladesh.
"The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Dinesh Karthik as the replacement for Wriddhiman Saha for the third and final Test against South Africa. He is set to join the team before the third Test.
"Mr. Wriddhiman Saha suffered an upper left hamstring tendon injury during training on Thursday, January 11. The BCCI Medical Team will continue to monitor his progress," the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said in a media advisory in Tuesday.
India Test squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.
