MUMBAI, Jan 12: Indian off-spinner Washington Sundar was on Wednesday ruled out of the upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa after testing positive for COVID-19 and Jayant Yadav was named as his replacement for the assignment starting January 19.
Pacer Navdeep Saini was also added to the ODI squad as a backup for pacer Mohammed Siraj, who is recovering from a hamstring injury.
“Team India off-spinner Washington Sundar has been ruled out of the forthcoming ODI series against South Africa after testing positive for COVID-19 during the camp in Bengaluru,” the BCCI said in a statement.
“Sundar was supposed to travel to Cape Town with the ODI members on Wednesday and join the rest of the squad ahead of the ODI series starting January 19th,” it added.
The five-member selection panel, headed by former India pacer Chetan Sharma, has named Jayant as Washington’s replacement.
Siraj is still recovering from his hamstring injury that he sustained in the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg.
The ODI series against South Africa begins in Paarl on January 19. The second ODI is scheduled at the same venue on January 21, following which the team will travel to Cape Town for the series-finale.
Squad: KL Rahul (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj, Jayant Yadav, Navdeep Saini. (PTI)