Right-arm medium pacer Avesh Khan has been added to India's squad for the 2nd Test of the ongoing South Africa tour as the injury replacement for Mohammed Shami. Avesh was a part of the ODI squad that clinched the three-match series 2-1 and played a match-winning role in the series opener at The Wanderers in Johannesburg.
Avesh bagged figures of 4/27 and dented South Africa's batting order badly which saw the Proteas get bundled out for 116 in 27.3 overs. India chased down the target in 17 overs and won the game by a convincing margin of eight wickets.
The 27-year-old went wicketless (0/43) in the 2nd ODI and snared 2/45 in the decider in Paarl as the Men in Blue defeated the hosts by 78 runs to clinch the series. The Indore-born pacer has played eight ODIs and 19 T20Is for India and bagged nine and 18 wickets respectively in both formats.
Notably, Mohammed Shami is reportedly battling an ankle condition and is undergoing rehab. India rued the absence of Shami in the opening Test of the series at the SuperSport Park in Centurion as their bowlers struggled to get South Africa out in the first innings.
Getting bundled out for 245 in the first innings after being asked to bat first, the Rohit Sharma-led side struggled to make the most out of the assistance from the surface as the hosts took a sizeable lead of 163. Barring Jasprit Bumrah (4/69), all the other Indian bowlers struggled on the Centurion deck.
The second Test will get underway at 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
