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Indian team have announced their squad for the tour of South Africa which is set to happen from December 2023 to January 2024. The squad has lot of surprises for Indian cricket fans as they see lot of young players being included and here in this article, we will have a look at who can replace the key batter Ajinkya Rahane in the upcoming two-match Test series against South Africa.
Curious Case of Ajinkya Rahane:
- Ajinkya Rahane's Test career almost came to an end during the three-match test series tour of South Africa in 2021/22 as he was dropped from the Test squad.
Indian team in Test cricket post 2021/22 tour of South Africa:
- Played a two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in March 2022
- Played one-off Test match against England in July, 2022
- Played a two-match Test series against Bangladesh in December 2022
- Played a four-match Test series against Australia from February to March 2023
- Ajinkya Rahane was surprisingly selected in the Indian team setup during the 2023 World Test Championship Final game and he was also the vice-captain in India's last test series which was played against West Indies in July 2023.
Rahane despite being Vice-Captain in the previous Test series, has been dropped from the squad for the upcoming two-match Test series to be played against South Africa in 2023/24.
Read More: Rise of Ajinkya Rahane as Player for India
Several new (or) young players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been included in the two-match Test series against South Africa, but at the number 5 position, Shreyas Iyer is expected to replace and play in Ajinkya Rahane's position.
Shreyas Iyer missed out on playing cricket for a long time due to his back injury and his return will help him to play at the number 5 position.
