Who Will Be The Replacement For Ruturaj Gaikwad Who Was Out Of The Test Series?
IND vs SA Test Series 2023: Who will be the replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad who was out of the Test series? The two-match Test series between India and South Africa is going to start from December 26.
There May Be A Change in The Squad Of Team India:-
The first match will be played at Super Sports Park in Centurion. There may be a change in the squad of Team India before this match.
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This is because Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is included in India’s Test squad, has been ruled out of the Test series due to a finger injury.
BCCI has not yet made any announcement regarding his replacement. But there is one player whose name has started being discussed. Whereas in South Africa, that player has further strengthened his claim by scoring a century.
For the last few months, whenever there is a discussion about India’s Test team, the name of young batsman Sarfaraz Khan often comes up in the discussion.
After Ruturaj’s Exit, His Name Again Came Into Discussion:-
He did not get entry into the main squad for the South Africa series. But now after Ruturaj’s exit, his name has again come into discussion.
The reason for this is also being said to be his century in South Africa. Sarfaraz is part of the squad of India A team.
In the first four-day match against South Africa A, he played an inning of 68 runs on 55 balls. That match was drawn. After that Sarfaraz scored a brilliant century against the Indian team.
Sarfaraz Khan played a brilliant century in an intra-squad match played between India and India A. He scored a stormy century in 61 balls.
His century came in front of Team India’s bowling lineup which included Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Sarfaraz Has Once Again Staked His Claim With This Century:-
The Indian team played this match while practicing before the first Test against South Africa. Now with this century, Sarfaraz has once again staked his claim that he can be a right contender to be included in the team in place of Ruturaj. Now it remains to be seen how seriously BCCI takes this claim of Sarfaraz.
Sarfaraz Khan’s record has been excellent. He has batted well in the last few years. Khan has scored a lot of runs in the domestic circuit of India.
Khan has scored runs in every format like T20, ODI, and red ball. However, he could not do anything special in IPL 2023, hence he remained unsold in the IPL 2024 auction.
He has played 41 matches in first-class cricket and scored 3657 runs in 61 innings. His average was more than 71 and he scored 13 centuries and 10 half-centuries.
Apart from this, in List A, Sarfaraz has scored 629 runs in 27 innings at an average of 34.9. He has scored two centuries in List A and not a single half-century has come off his bat.
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Indian Team Test Squad:-
- Rohit Sharma (captain), 2. Shubman Gill, 3. Yashasvi Jaiswal, 4. Virat Kohli, 5. Shreyas Iyer, 6. KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), 7. Ravindra Jadeja, 8. Ravichandran Ashwin, 9. Shardul Thakur, 10. Mukesh Kumar, 11. Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), 12. Mohammed Siraj, 13. Prasidh Krishna and 14. KS Bharat. (wicket-keeper).
