India’s regular Test wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha has been ruled out of the upcoming one-off Test against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, the BCCI confirmed on Saturday (June 2). Dinesh Karthik has been named as the replacement for the Test beginning on June 14.
The Bengal-born ‘keeper, while batting in Qualifier 2 of the recently concluded Indian Premier League, suffered a blow on his right thumb from a Shivam Mavi delivery. Saha has been in consultation with BCCI’s medical team and was duly advised adequate rest ahead of the crucial England Test series. Saha’s recovery period is expected to be around five to six weeks.
Saha will now be the second Test regular to miss out from the historic match owing to an injury, after skipper Virat Kohli too was ruled out because of a neck injury he picked up in one of the games of the IPL earlier last month. While Saha will use this time to recuperate ahead of the arduous English challenge starting in August, Karthik will look to lap this opportunity up to provide his Test ambitions, a new wind.
The Tamil Nadu batsman last played a Test in Chittagong in 2010 against Bangladesh and ever since has been out of favour in Tests. Karthik’s recall is a byproduct of his recent form, the most notable performance of his being the Nidahas Trophy final heroics where he scored an astounding 29 off eight balls to win India the title off the final ball. Karthik was also named the skipper of Kolkata Knight Riders this season, during which he not only led the unit to the third spot but also top scored for the franchise with 498 runs from 16 games.
Parthiv Patel, who had been the go-to replacement for Saha, and had also played as recently as on the tour of South Africa earlier this year, was overlooked. While Parthiv didn’t come up with great returns from the two Tests in Centurion and Johannesburg, scoring only 56 runs, Karthik will fall back on his past successes in whites in England.
In 2007, Karthik played as an opener and had enjoyed tremendous success, scoring three fifties with a top score of 91 in the Oval Test. With 263 runs, Karthik was India’s leading run-getter in the three Tests on that tour. However sitting in contrary with those numbers in England are his overall – having made his debut in 2004, he’s played just 23 Tests to score 1000 runs at a measly average of 27.7, with only one hundred and seven fifties.
. Dinesh Karthik has been named as the replacement for the Test beginning on June 14.){kind=link}