India's young pacer Navdeep Saini has been ruled out of the remainder of the Duleep Trophy and the upcoming three-match one-day series between India A and New Zealand A after sustaining a groin injury.
Saini sustained the injury on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy semifinal match between North Zone and South Zone in Salem, Tamil Nadu. He only managed to bowl 11.2 overs during South Zone's mammoth first innings, which spanned 172.5 overs.
Saini will now undergo rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. Rishi Dhawan has been named as Saini's replacement in India A squad.
Saini was recently involved in Kent's trophy-winning run at the Royal London One-Day Cup, playing five matches and bagging five wickets. He had a more productive time during his two County Championship appearances for Kent, picking up 11 wickets at 23.81, including a match-winning debut five-wicket haul against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
India A squad for New Zealand A one-dayers
Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rahul Tripathi, Rajat Patidar, Sanju Samson (capt), KS Bharat (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, Rahul Chahar, Tilak Varma, Kuldeep Sen, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik, Rishi Dhawan, Raj Bawa.
This follows the news that India's star pacer Umesh Yadav has been called as Mohammad Shami's replacement who has been ruled out of the series after testing positive for Covid-19.
Fast bowler Shami will not be able to take part in the upcoming three-day Mastercard T20I series against Australia after testing positive for COVID-19.
The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Umesh Yadav as his replacement.
Despite his sporadic appearances in international cricket, Umesh has been a regular in the IPL circuit and was among the best bowlers in the powerplay this past season, picking up 16 wickets overall at an economy rate of 7.06. He has recent form behind him as well, having topped the charts for Middlesex in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
