JUST IN: Dinesh Karthik replaces Wriddhiman Saha for 3rd Test

Wirddhiman Saha, who had been nursing a small niggle before the 2nd Test has been ruled out of the Test series against South Africa. Dinesh Karthik has been announced as his replacement and will fly down to South Africa before the 3rd Test to join the Indian team.

Dinesh Karthik has already been drafted into the ODI squad and will be making his return to the Test setup after a long break of 8 years.

Karthik made his Test debut in 2004 but couldn’t really cement a place in the side, with Dhoni becoming India’s full time wicketkeeper(and captain) across all formats.

Karthik last played a test match in Chittagong in 2010.

Saha suffered an upper left tendon hamstring injury during the team’s training before the 2nd Test, and while initially it felt like Saha would be able to recuperate from that injury before the third test, further examination led to the conclusion that Saha had to receive extensive rehabilitation in order to get back to match fitness.

Parthiv Patel has been operating as India’s wicketkeeper in the 2nd Test, but his performance with the gloves has been questionable. And with Karthik being a better batsman, it seems like Karthik could be India’s wicketkeeper during the 3rd Test.

South Africa currently lead India by 119 runs and have 8 wickets in hand, with ABD still at the crease. India would be hoping that they can restrict South Africa’s lead to less than 250, because anything in excess of that will be a little too much on this deteriorating pitch.