India’s seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar and opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan were on Monday released from the Test squad against Sri Lanka.
The duo asked for the release owing to personal reasons as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) granted them their release. While Bhuvi would not be taking part any further in the remaining Tests series, Dhawan would be missing the second Test to be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur from Friday.
However, Dhawan would be available for selection in the third Test. Meanwhile, Vijay Shankar, the Tamil Nadu all-rounder, has been named as the replacement for Bhuvneshwar.
Shankar is not expected to play in the second Test as Murali Vijay is the reserve opener in the squad and Ishant Sharma is the third pacer, who are readily available replacements.
However, this is the maiden national call-up for the Tamil Nadu One-Day captain, who has scored 1671 runs and taken 27 wickets in 32 first-class matches.
The BCCI has also released a media statement saying, “The BCCI would like to inform that Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan have been released from India’s Test team. The duo made a request to the selectors and the team management to release them owing to personal reasons. Mr. Kumar will not take any further part in the ongoing Paytm Test series against Sri Lanka and the All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Vijay Shankar as his replacement. Mr. Dhawan is available for selection for the third Test.”
India Test squad for the second Test:
Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar.
