IND vs SA: Ishan Kishan withdraws from Test series against South Africa; KS Bharat named replacement

India's star wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan has withdrawn from the two-match Test series against South Africa, which will be played in the Rainbow nation.

Johannesburg/Hyderabad: India's star wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan has withdrawn from the two-match Test series against South Africa, which will be played in the Rainbow nation.

"Ishan Kishan has requested the BCCI to be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons. The wicket-keeper has subsequently been withdrawn from the Test squad," BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a media release issued here on Sunday.

• 🚨 UPDATE 🚨: Ishan Kishan withdrawn from #TeamIndia’s Test squad. KS Bharat named as replacement. #SAvIND
  
  Details 🔽https://t.co/KqldTEeD0T

  — BCCI (@BCCI) December 17, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  🚨 UPDATE 🚨: Ishan Kishan withdrawn from #TeamIndia’s Test squad. KS Bharat named as replacement. #SAvIND
  
  Details 🔽https://t.co/KqldTEeD0T

  — BCCI (@BCCI) December 17, 2023

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  🚨 UPDATE 🚨: Ishan Kishan withdrawn from #TeamIndia’s Test squad. KS Bharat named as replacement. #SAvIND
  
  Details 🔽https://t.co/KqldTEeD0T

  — BCCI (@BCCI) December 17, 2023

Ishan Kishan made his Test debut in the West Indies after KS Bharat was given five Test matches in which he failed to score a single fifty. It is expected that KL Rahul will keep wickets in the Boxing Day Test, considering KL Bharat's inept technique against quality pace bowling.

So far, the 25-year-old Kishan has just played just two Tests, in which he has scored 78 runs, with an unbeaten 52 as his highest score. Meanwhile, 30-year-old KS Bharat, made his Test debut against Australia at Nagpur in February 2023.

Bharat has so far played 5 Tests in which he has scored 129 runs with a highest score of 44. He has 12 catches and 1 stumping to his credit. Bharat has also played 93 first class matches in which he has amassed 4878 runs and has 313 catches and 37 stumpings to his name.

The two match Test series against South Africa begins on December 26 with the first Test, which will be played at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. The second Test will be played at Newlands in Capetown from January 3.

Updated Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vice captain), Prasidh Krishna and KS Bharat (wicket-keeper).