Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan have been released from India’s Test team after both made requests to the selectors and the team management to be recused owing to personal reasons.
Bhuvneshwar will not take any further part in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. He will be replaced by Tamil Nadu all-rounder Vijay Shankar. Dhawan, however, will be available for selection for the third Test.
Shankar is not expected to play in the second Test as Murali Vijay is the reserve opener in the squad and Ishant Sharma is the third pacer.
However, this is the maiden call-up for the Tamil Nadu One Day captain, who has scored 1671 runs and taken 27 wickets in 32 first-class matches. He has been playing for India A for some time and also is next in line after Hardik Pandya as the seam bowling all-rounder.
India Test squad for the second Test: Virat Kohli (Captain), KL Rahul, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-Captain), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar.
With inputs from PTI