Mumbai star batter Sarfaraz Khan has been named as the replacement for the injured Sai Sudharsan in India’s squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a media release. Sarfaraz is now in line to play his first Test match since November 2024.
The BCCI confirmed that Sudharsan has been ruled out of the series due to a right toe stress reaction. “Sai Sudharsan has been ruled out of the Test series against Sri Lanka. The left-handed batter, who has been at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru, has made significant progress in his recovery from the right toe stress reaction and is recovering well,” BCCI wrote in the release, adding that the “medical teamย is closely monitoring his progress.”ย
The Indian Board further stated that Sarfaraz will be joining the Indian squad in Colombo before the Shubman Gill-led team travels to Galle for the first Test, which will start on August 15.
Sarfaraz’s last Test came nearly two years ago
Meanwhile, Sarfaraz’s last Test match came way back in November 2024, nearly two years ago. He has played six Test matches, the last of which came against New Zealand at home during a three-match series which India lost 3-0. A report in Times of India had recently stated that Sarfaraz and Shaik Rasheed were the front runners to replace Sudharsan in the series after the Southpaw suffered a toe issue during India A’s tour of Sri Lanka in July.ย
BCCI CoE under scrutiny for numerous injuries
Meanwhile, the BCCI Centre of Excellence has been under scrutiny recently after a number of players suffered injuries, including Test regulars Sudharsan, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar, among others. Sudharsan was picked in India’s squad for the two-match series, but his participation was subject to fitness clearance from the CoE. He resumed batting at the CoE but was later ruled out of the series. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and CoE head VVS Laxman also spoke on the string of injuries in the Indian camp.
Laxman stated that the BCCI is looking to find a replacement for the former Head of Sports Science Nitin Patel but has faced setbacks in it. “Unfortunately, after Nitin left as the head of Sports Science, we didnโt get anyone to fill in those shoes,” Laxman said. “We had Andrew Leipus: everything was agreed upon, Devajit (Saikia, BCCI secretary) had two-three meetings, and at the last-minute, Andrew backed off citing family reasons,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sarfaraz’s addition to the squad comes a little after India defeated Sri Lanka Cricket XI in a three-day warm-up game by six wickets. The first Test starts on August 15.
India’s updated squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka: Shubman Gill (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Auqib Nabi, Sarfaraz Khan
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