Right-arm medium pacer Avesh Khan has been added to India’s squad for the 2nd Test of the continuing South Africa tour as the injury replacement for Mohammed Shami. Avesh was part of the ODI squad that clinched the three-match collection 2-1 and performed a match-winning position within the collection opener at The Wanderers in Johannesburg.
Avesh bagged figures of 4/27 and dented South Africa’s batting order badly which noticed the Proteas get bundled out for 116 in 27.3 overs. India chased down the goal in 17 overs and gained the sport by a convincing margin of eight wickets.
The 27-year-old went wicketless (0/43) within the 2nd ODI and snared 2/45 within the decider in Paarl as the Men in Blue defeated the hosts by 78 runs to clinch the collection. The Indore-born pacer has performed eight ODIs and 19 T20Is for India and bagged 9 and 18 wickets respectively in each codecs.
Notably, Mohammed Shami is reportedly battling an ankle situation and is present process rehab. India rued the absence of Shami within the opening Test of the collection on the SuperSport Park in Centurion as their bowlers struggled to get South Africa out within the first innings.
Getting bundled out for 245 within the first innings after being requested to bat first, the Rohit Sharma-led aspect struggled to take advantage of out of the help from the floor as the hosts took a sizeable lead of 163. Barring Jasprit Bumrah (4/69), all the opposite Indian bowlers struggled on the Centurion deck.
The second Test will get underway on the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
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
