Wriddhiman Saha ruled out of the Test series against South Africa

India Test wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha has been ruled out of the ongoing Test series against South Africa. He suffered an upper left hamstring tendon injury during the training before the second Test in Centurion. Parthiv Patel was included at the last moment in the playing XI for the ongoing game at Supersport Park. However, the injury comes as a severe blow to the visitors as Saha is termed as the best wicket-keeper in the country in the longest format of the game.

Parthiv has been below par in the second Test so far as he has dropped as many as three catches. First, he fluffed a crucial one of AB de Villiers down the leg-side, then he missed to latch on to the catch of Faf du Plessis. The latest one was the catch of Dean Elgar which he didn’t go for and blamed Cheteshwar Pujara for not going after it who was at the first sip. He has also struggled with the bat scoring only 19 runs in the only opportunity he has got to bat.

Who is the replacement?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the news of Wriddhiman Saha getting injured on their official website and also named the replacement in their press release. Dinesh Karthik is set to replace Saha for the third and final Test match of the series and will join the team before the third Test. There is every possibility that he might be straight away drafted into the playing XI given the poor performance of Parthiv Patel in Centurion.

The statement of BCCI read, “The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Dinesh Karthik as the replacement for Wriddhiman Saha for the third and final Test against South Africa. He is set to join the team before the third Test. Mr. Wriddhiman Saha suffered an upper left hamstring tendon injury during training on Thursday, January 11. The BCCI Medical Team will continue to monitor his progress.”

Dinesh Karthik has represented India in 23 Tests and scored exactly 1000 runs at an average of 27.77 with a solitary century and seven half-centuries. Moreover, he has affected 58 dismissals (51 catches and 7 stumpings) behind the wickets. He last played for Indian national cricket team in the longest format way back in January 2010 against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

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