Ousted India opener Gautam Gambhir was on Tuesday (September 27) recalled to the Indian Test team, after a gap of over two years, for the remainder of the ongoing three-match series against the visiting New Zealand side.
The Delhi opener will replace KL Rahul who was ruled out with an injury in his right hamstring. Rahul sustained the injury while running between th wickets during India's second innings and did not take further part in the first Test that the hosts won by 197 runs at Kanpur.
Gambhir, 34, last played a Test for India against England at The Oval in August 2014. Incidentally, back then too, Gambhir was making his Test comeback. However, his tally of 356 runs at an average of 71.2 in the three games of the recently-concluded Duleep Trophy for India Blue, made him a favourite to take up the spot left vacant by the injured Karnataka batsman.
The 56-Tests veteran has 4046 runs in the longest format of the game, with a career-best score of 206 against Australia at his home ground in Delhi. Along with his state and former India teammate Virender Sehwag, Gambhir holds the record for most runs by an opening pair for the country in Tests (4412).
Meanwhile, pacer Ishant Sharma too had been ruled out of the second Test, to be played in Kolkata from September 30, as he continues to recover from chikungunya that forced him to sit out of India's 500th Test. Jayant Yadav has been named as his replacement. The uncapped Haryana offspinner has been rewarded for his good show in Australia where he picked up seven wickets at an average of 22.57 in the two unofficial Tests against the hosts.
India lead the three-match series 1-0. The second game starts in Kolkata on Friday.
Click the link below to learn more
0 comments:
Post a Comment