Jharkhand left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem has been added to the Indian squad for the third Test against South Africa in Ranchi to replace the injured Kuldeep Yadav.
Nadeem has been a prolific performer for Jharkhand and India A over a period of time. He has had back-to-back 50-plus wicket seasons for Jharkhand. The 30-year-old orthodox left-arm spinner has taken 424 wickets in 110 first-class matches with 19 five-wicket and five 10-wicket hauls.
In 2018, Nadeem was called up in the Indian ODI team for the T20 series against the West Indies at home but did not play a game.
With the series already in their kitty, Team India will aim to go for the kill and clean sweep the three-Test rubber when they face a demoralised South African team in the final match beginning Saturday at the JSCA Stadium.The hosts dominated the first two matches in all the three aspects of the game and dented the confidence of the Proteas severely.
India won the first Test by 203 runs in Vizag and went on to better their performance in the next game, registering a comprehensive victory by an innings and 137 runs in Pune.
However, the visitors can hardly expect any respite in Ranchi as Virat Kohli’s men would like earn another 40 points and extend their lead in the World Test Championship.
“We are not going to take the foot off the gas in the third Test. We are looking for a result and hopefully make it 3-0. No one is going to relax at any stage, that is a guarantee,”
Kohli had said after the Pune Test.
The Indian team has ticked all the boxes in the series so far. Their batsmen are scoring heavily, the spinners are picking wickets at regular intervals and the pacers — who have been on a roll in the last two-three years — have been relentless.
India’s squad for 3rd Test: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shahbaz Nadeem
This article was originally published on NDTV.com