Wriddhiman Saha will need five to six weeks to recover from his thumb injury

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

India wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik is set to make a Test comeback after more than eight years since his counterpart Wriddhiman Saha was ruled out of the historic Test match against Afghanistan with a thumb injury.

Saha sustained the injury while representing the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second qualifier against the Kolkata Knight Riders. During the match, Saha was struck on the right thumb by a bouncer from Shivam Mavi.

According to a statement from the BCCI, Saha will need five to six weeks to recover from the injury.

“He was under observation by the medical staff of the BCCI and the management has decided to give him adequate rest before the start of the England Test series,” the statement said. “Saha’s recovery period is expected to be around five to six weeks.”

During India’s last Test assignment against South Africa, Saha was struggling with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Parthiv Patel.

Patel featured in the second and third Tests against the Proteas, but failed to have an impact as he was limited to 56 runs at an average of 14.

Patel and Karthik were considered to be the frontrunners to replace Saha for the Test against Afghanistan, but Karthik was preferred, even though his last Test match for India came against Bangladesh in January 2010.

India’s Test against Afghanistan, who will make their debut in the longest format, will commence on June 14 in Bangalore.

India will be captained by Ajinkya Rahane since regular skipper Virat Kohli is currently recovering from a neck injury.

India’s Test Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur