BCCI announces Abhinav Mukund's replacement

Abhinav Mukund had a wonderful domestic campaign and was selected for the Border-Gavaskar trophy. However, he became the victim of Mitchell Starc’s superb bowling as he could not impress in the second Test he played at Bangalore. He was out for a duck in the first innings and scored a mere 16.

His torrid run saw him play no further part in the series. It was a comeback for Mukund after playing in England and impressing with a 60 odd knock on his debut. Everyone was impressed then but the man from Tamil Nadu faded away as Shikhar Dhawan came into the team and took his chance beautifully.

Since then it was only a struggle for the left-hander but he has bounced back with a fantastic performance in the domestic circuit that has earned him another selection.

Samarth replaces Mukund

Ravikumar Samarth has been asked to take Abhinav Mukund’s place in the India A side that is touring South Africa. Mukund has been selected for the Sri Lanka tour. Mukund has got another chance and would like to grab this opportunity with both hands.

Ravikumar Samarth, on the other hand, was superb in the domestic circuit. He scored loads of runs as he smashed 702 runs in the Ranji Trophy. This has earned the young Karnataka lad a place in the Indian team. The 24-year-old will play under Karun Nair as India A is poised to for two four-day matches against South Africa.

The KSCA secretary Sudhakar Rao said that Ravikumar Samarth will replace Mukund in the four-day squad. He said, “The BCCI informed us. He has been called up to the India ‘A’ four-day squad and he will replace Abhinav Mukund.”

India is supposed to play two four-day games starting from August 12. They will be followed by a tri-series with Australia A and South Africa A which has clouds hanging over it as the A team cricketers from Australia have forfeited the tour.