On Wednesday, Team India went down 2-0 in the Test series and on the very next day the Indian team management has called upon Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur to South Africa. It has been learned that Thakur will be boarding a flight to Johannesburg on Friday night, having been withdrawn from Mumbai’s T20 squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

The call for Shardul to join the touring Indian team was confirmed by Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) joint secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar. As quoted in the Indian Express, Khanvilkar said, “We were informed by the BCCI that he (Thakur) will be going to South Africa soon which has meant that we’ve had to find a replacement for him at the last moment.”

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The actual reasons for Thakur’s premature departure for South Africa are still not clarified by the BCCI. He is the fast bowler in the ODI squad who isn’t already there, was originally expected to leave with the other ODI specialists, including the likes of MS Dhoni and Manish Pandey, on January 24.

Thakur will be accompanied by Delhi pacer Navdeep Saini, who is expected to be one of the net bowlers. Saini will join Ankit Rajpoot, Mohammad Siraj, Avesh Khan and Basil Thampi who had traveled with Virat Kohli & his men to bowl to the Test batsmen in the nets.

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It seems that BCCI has taken the decision after the team management had complained about often not getting decent net bowlers on away tours. However, it remains to be seen whether Thakur too has been called as a net bowler before the third Test at the Wanderers or there are perhaps some injury concerns in the Indian pace battery.

For the record, chief selector MSK Prasad had hinted that some of the ODI players “may go a bit early to acclimatize” while announcing the ODI squad last month.