Shami and Kishan to miss South Africa Tests, Chahar unavailable for ODIs

Mohammed Shami will miss the upcoming two-Test series in South Africa because of an ankle injury. Shami wasn't part of the Test contingent that left for Johannesburg on Friday, and is currently under the watch of the BCCI's National Cricket Academy. India will also be without Ishan Kishan, who had kept wicket for them in their previous Test assignment in the West Indies in July; the BCCI said in a statement that Kishan had "has requested the BCCI to be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons".*

Deepak Chahar, meanwhile, will not be available for the ODI series in South Africa because of a "family medical emergency".

While announcing the Test squad late last month, the BCCI had said that Shami was "currently undergoing medical treatment" and that his inclusion was subject to fitness. A media release on Saturday confirmed that Shami "was not cleared by BCCI's medical team" and was subsequently withdrawn from the squad.

Shami last featured in a Test in June when he played the World Test Championship final against Australia. He was rested for the Caribbean tour that followed to manage his workload ahead of India's busy white-ball season that ended with the 2023 ODI World Cup, where Shami topped the wicket-takers' chart.

The selectors haven't named a replacement for Shami. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar and Shardul Thakur are the other fast bowlers in the touring party.

KS Bharat, who last kept wicket for India at the WTC final in June, has been called up to the Test squad in Kishan's place. Bharat had also been India's first-choice keeper during the home Tests against Australia earlier this year but had to pass the gloves on to Kishan for the West Indies series in July, Kishan's debut in the long format. Bharat is already in South Africa, on tour with the India A team, which is playing two unofficial Tests against South Africa A.

India also have KL Rahul in the squad, who is looking to reclaim his place in the Test XI and said yesterday he would be happy to take on keeping duties in the format.

As for Chahar, he also missed the T20Is in South Africa last week. Chahar made his comeback during the T20Is at home against Australia last month, but featured in just one game - the fourth game in Raipur - before flying home for personal reasons.

Akash Deep, who was earlier part of India's Asian Games-winning squad, has been called up into the KL Rahul-led ODI squad.

In another update, Shreyas Iyer will leave the squad after the first ODI in Johannesburg on December 17 to prepare for the Test matches that will follow.

Iyer is likely to play the intra-squad three-day fixture in the lead-up to the Boxing Day Test. His last Test was against Australia in March, after which he was sidelined with a back injury. It's likely Iyer will reclaim his middle-order spot, which had been occupied by Ajinkya Rahane in his absence.

With Rahul Dravid and his team of Vikram Rathour (batting coach), Paras Mhambrey (bowling coach) and T Dilip (fielding coach) involved in preparing the Test squad for the two-match series, India's second assignment in this WTC cycle, the ODI side will be assisted by India A's coaching staff: Sitanshu Kotak (batting coach), Rajib Datta (bowling coach) and Ajay Ratra (fielding coach).

India's updated Test squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KS Bharat (wk), KL Rahul (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-capt), Prasidh Krishna.

India's updated ODI squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, B Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (capt, wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep