India pace bowler Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the two-Test series against the Proteas, beginning this month after he failed to regain his fitness.
The 33-year-old was earlier named in the squad announced by the BCCI for the away series but his inclusion was subject to fitness clearance.
“Shami, whose participation in the Test series was subject to fitness has not been cleared by the BCCI medical team and the fast bowler is ruled out of the two Tests,” the BCCI said in a press release.
He played a key role during India’s recent World Cup campaign, bagging 24 wickets from seven games to finish as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker.
India won 10 games in a row in the tournament before losing the final to Australia.
The BCCI also said that medium pacer Deepak Chahar had withdrawn from the ODI squad due to a family emergency.
He was replaced with Akash Deep, who is already in South Africa as part of the India A side.
Batsman Shreyas Iyer will be available for the first ODI but will skip the remaining two in order the prepare for the Test series, beginning on 26 December.
The first game of the three-match ODI series begins in Johannesburg on Sunday.
Captain Rohit Sharma, along with Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin left for South Africa on Friday and are likely to feature in the practice game on 20-22 December in Pretoria.
India updated ODI squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C), Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep.
© Agence France-Presse
