Oct. 5: Injuries will force the omission of two important members of the Indian team when it faces Australia in the second Test in Bangalore from October 9 to 13.
Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma have been ruled out on account of injuries to their right knees, and have been replaced by Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund and Saurashtra seamer Jaydev Unadkat in the squad.
In the playing XI, Tamil Nadu’s Murali Vijay will take Gambhir’s place at the top of the order along with Virender Sehwag while Ishant will be replaced by S. Sreesanth, who is making a comeback from injury.
Laxman’s availability for the second Test is uncertain. He’s wrestling a recurring back spasm that he has been carrying ever since the Sri Lanka Test series two months back.
In case he doesn’t play, Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who fielded brilliantly at close-in where he snared two catches as a substitute on Day Four of the first Test, will come in his place. Meanwhile, Mukund and Unadkat have been replaced in the squads for the Challenger Trophy by Harpreet Singh and Pankaj Singh respectively.