Ishan Kishan withdraws from South Africa Test series, KS Bharat named replacement
Team India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has pulled out of the squad for the impending two-match Test series against South Africa as he has flown back home due to personal reasons.
BCCI have named KS Bharat, who is currently in South Africa as India ‘A’ skipper, as his replacement. The development comes just two days after fast bowler Mohammed Shami was ruled out of the contest owing to his ankle injury.
“Ishan Kishan has requested the BCCI to be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons. The wicket-keeper has subsequently been withdrawn from the Test squad. The men’s selection committee has named KS Bharat as a replacement,” BCCI said in a statement.
After Rishabh Pant was sidelined following the tragic car accident in December 2022, Bharat emerged as the first-choice wicketkeeper. And he was given a stretch of five straight Test matches, including the World Test Championship final earlier in June, but with Bharat failing to score a single fifty, the selectors moved on to Kishan. The 25-year-old made his debut in the two-match series in West Indies, where he even scored an unbeaten 52 in the second Test as India scripted a 2-0 clean sweep.
With Ishan out, KL Rahul will be keeping wickets in in the Boxing Day Test match. This will in fact be the first time be will be donning the keeping gloves in Test cricket, just a day after he addressed the speculations over his desire to reshape his career as a wicketkeeper-middle-order batter across formats.
“I don’t know about all formats, right now my focus is on this ODI series,” Rahul said on Saturday. “Yes, I’ll be doing the same role. I’ll be wicketkeeping and batting in the middle order. After that, yes, I would be happy to take up that role even in the Test matches.”
India are slated to play two Tests against the Proteas with the first match starting on December 26–30 and the second scheduled for January 3–7, 2024. SuperSport Park in Centurion will host the opening Test, and the second will be held in Newlands.
Squad: 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).