Ishan Kishan withdraws from South Africa Test series, KS Bharat named as replacement | Cricket News

Indian cricketer Ishan Kishan has requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India that he be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons, the board announced in a press release on Sunday.
Consequently, the wicket-keeper has been withdrawn from the Test squad with the BCCI’s men’s selection committee naming KS Bharat as a replacement for Kishan.
Ishan’s withdrawal comes one day after the Indian Test team also lost the services of veteran workhorse Mohammed Shami due to an injury. The BCCI, via another communique to the media on Saturday, had said that Shami’s participation in the Test series was subject to his fitness and he was has not cleared the BCCI Medical Team.
Deepak Chahar was another player who missed the T20I series and the ODI series after informing the BCCI that he won’t available due to a family medical emergency. Chahar had also missed the fifth T20I against Australia in India after needing to urgently return home after receiving news about the illness of a family member.
India will take on South Africa in a two-match Test series after the conclusion of the ODI series. The fast bowler has been ruled out of both Tests.
Meanwhile, BCCI also said that Shreyas Iyer was not going to play in the ODI series after the first ODI in Johannesburg, but would be joining the squad for the Test series. He will take part in the inter-squad game before the two Tests.
India’s squad for Tests:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk)