South Africa wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock will be expected to miss the last two Tests of the series against India due to personal reasons. The Proteas will be hosting India for a three-match Test series scheduled to be commencing on December 26 in Centurion which will be followed by 3 ODIs from January 19. De Kock is expecting his first child with his wife Sasha Hurly in January and therefore, might not play the last two Tests.
The second Test is scheduled to be commencing on January 3 in Johannesburg, while the final match is scheduled for January 11 in Cape Town. Both teams will be locking horns with each other for three ODIs. De Kock last featured for South Africa at the Twenty20 World Cup, where he opted to sit out their second group game following a board order to take a knee in support of the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
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Quinton de Kock later apologized for his decision and took a knee in the following three matches as South Africa eventually got knocked out in the Super 12 stage of the competition. Meanwhile, India suffered a huge blow on Monday as opener Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the Test series after suffering a hamstring injury in the nets in Mumbai on Sunday.
Rohit, who replaced Ajinkya Rahane as India’s Test vice-captain last week, was batting in the nets at the Bandra Kurla Complex when he suffered an injury. It is not yet clear whether Rohit will be available for the subsequent ODI series which starts from January 19.
India A captain Priyank Panchal has been called in the Indian team to replace Rohit. 31-year-old Priyank Panchal, who plays for Gujarat, lead India A during the recent unofficial Test series in South Africa.
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He hit 96 in the first unofficial Test against South Africa last month in Bloemfontien. Panchal has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit, having scored 7011 runs, including 24 hundreds and 25 half-centuries, in first-class cricket.
