Australia vs India: Umesh Yadav ruled out, Shardul Thakur likely to replace him.
Australia vs India: One more injury concern comes up for India as Umesh Yadav has been ruled out of the remainder of the Australia series due to a calf muscle tear. BCCI on Thursday announced the news of the pacer getting ruled out.
However, the replacement has not been revealed till now. Shardul Thakur is most likely to replace the speedster in the Sydney Test.
According to the sources, the speedster after complaining of pain in his calf has been ruled out and will head home to complete his rehab program. He would not join the squad for the third and fourth tests.
Shardul Thakur to be preferred before Natarajan:
There were talks around that the pace sensation T. Natarajan must be picked ahead of Thakur while this looks baseless right now.
“Some people and pundits have been in talks to bring in T. Natarajan after his brilliant progress in the past few days but we must not forget that the pacer has played only one first-class game for Tamil Nadu. While on the other hand, Shardul Thakur is much more experienced and has been a seasoned domestic red-ball player for Mumbai,” BCCI official.
“Thakur was unfortunate to have had an injury-hit debut against West Indies last year. He got injured before bowling a single over. He has been progressing well since then, and there are full chances that he might replace Umesh Yadav in the squad.”
The final call will be in hands of head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharath Arun and skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
Thakur has featured in 62 first class games and has picked 206 scalps to prove his worth. Apart from the bowling department, Shardul can bat down the order. He even has a 6 first-class 50 runs score.
Earlier in the limited-over leg, he showed that he can bat too down to order.
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