After the white-ball assignments in the ongoing tour of South Africa, Team India’s focus shifts to the two-match Test series, slated to get underway on December 26 in Centurion.
Ahead of the red-ball series, the visitors have suffered an injury setback as top-order batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out due to an injury.
Gaikwad, who is yet to make his Test debut for India, picked up a finger injury during the second ODI against South Africa in Gqeberha on December 19. As a result, the right-hander did not feature in the third ODI versus South Africa in Paarl two days ago.
“Ruturaj Gaikwad hasn't fully recovered from the blow he sustained to his ring finger while fielding in the second ODI. He remains under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team,” BCCI said in a statement ahead of the start of the final ODI.
Now, Sports Tak has reported that uncapped Bengal opener Abminanyu Easwaran is likely to replace Gaikwad in the Indian squad for the South Africa Test series.
Easwaran has been a regular in the India A side for quite a while and even made it to the senior team a few times. However, he hasn't had an opportunity to represent the national side so far.
Easwaran is currently a part of the India A side that is touring South Africa. He has scored crucial runs in the intra-squad practice match to strengthen his reckoning as Gaikwad’s replacement.
Abhimanyu Easwaran has been a prolific run-scorer in the domestic circuit. In 88 First-Class matches, he has scored 6567 runs at an average of 47.24 with 22 hundreds to his name.
