The Indian team just now tasted the Test-series victory against New Zealand on the home soil of India. The equation concluded as 1-0 for India in the two-match series. Many Indian senior players such as Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, and Rohit Sharma were rested for the series.
The series had many highlight players, starting with Shreyas Iyer, Mayank Agarwal, Axar Patel, and Ashwin. Amidst the chaos of the Covid variant Omicron, the BCCI confirmed the tour will go on as per plans.
BCCI has announced the Test squad along with the standby players. The series will have the services of the new vice-captain Rohit Sharma. The senior players have rejoined the squad and it has seen some surprise exclusions of a few players who were on the contention list.
Here are 3 surprising exclusions from India’s Test squad for South Africa tour:
1. Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav, the newly risen star of India got the opportunity to be in the Test squad against New Zealand. But he did not get the opportunity to debut for the Test team. The fraternity has only witnessed him in the limited-overs and was eager to see his abilities in the whites.
Yadav was expected to participate in the South African Test series but has not made it into the team. He is an experienced campaigner with very good technique. The availability of the other middle orders players like Shreyas Iyer, Rahane, and Vihari has let down Suryakumar’s opportunities.
The Maharashtrian played 77 First-class matches and has scored 5326 runs with a brilliant average of 44.01. The player has 14 centuries and 26 half-centuries in the domestic first-class circuit. He will anticipate participating in the Test squad in the future.
2. Abhimanyu Easwaran
Abhimanyu Easwaran is one of the unpopular names to the ostensible cricket fans. But, he is quite famous amongst the domestic cricket circuit of India. He is a right-handed opening batter from Bengal who has been representing the Indian A side.
The 26-year-old player was in the Indian A side which toured to South Africa. He was in sublime touch in the South African tour which made him a serious contender to be in the Indian squad. He hit a century against the South African A side in the test match.
The batter has played 66 first-class matches and has hit 4559 runs with an average of 43.83. He has 14 centuries and 19 half-centuries in first-class cricket. The good touch was expected to favour him, but he has not been named in the squad as well in the standby list.
3. KS Bharat
Srikar Bharat, the find of the Indian Premier League this season made into the Test squad of India in the recently concluded series against New Zealand. He was the standby player of the regular wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Saha’s injury paved the way for Bharat to showcase his keeping skills and he was much appreciated for his quick glovework in the absence of Saha. However, he did not get the chance to debut for the Indian team.
The 28-year-old keeper has been in the domestic setup for quite a long time now. In 78 first-class matches, he has hit 4283 runs at an average of 37.24 and has nine hundreds and 23 fifties. With the availability of Rishabh Pant, the keeping role has been occupied and hence Bharat has to wait for his chance still.
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