India vs South Africa: Avesh Khan added to India’s squad for 2nd Test in Cape Town | Cricket News
Avesh Khan has been added to the second of the two-match Test series against South Africa in Cape Town starting next week. The Indian bowling looked toothless in the first Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
In the ongoing India A game against South Africa A, Avesh picked up an impressive five-wicket haul, helping the visitors bowl out the hosts for 263 at Benoni in the first innings. Not only has he picked wickets, but he bowled five maidens in his 23.3 overs spell and kept the scoring down.
While Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj did a decent job in the first Test, the pressure was released on the batters as soon as they were taken out of the attack. Prasidh Krishna, on his debut, looked out of his depth in the game, and Shardul Thakur could not keep a lid on the scoring rate either.
On a pitch where the Indian batting lineup could only score 245 in the first innings, the bowlers gave away 408 runs, essentially tilting the game’s balance, and eventually, the hosts lost the match an innings and 32 runs.
“This was not a 400-run wicket; we gave too many runs. We sprayed the ball all around, but it happened. One can’t depend on one particular bowler (Bumrah); the other three pacers also needed to perform their roles; we could learn from how South Africa bowled,” Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said after the game.
“Our bowlers, many of these guys haven’t been here before, so I don’t want to be too critical,” Rohit added.
Avesh has had an impressive record in first-class cricket. In 38 matches, he picked 149 wickets at an impressive average of 22.65. The tall fast bowler has the knack of picking wickets and can extract extra bounce from the surfaces.
In the white-ball leg of the tour, the 27-year-old has had impressive outings.
India’s squad for 2nd Test: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Avesh Khan