Ranchi Test: Wriddhiman Saha replaced by Pant after ‘keeper takes knock

Ranchi:  India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha took a blow on the ring finger of his left hand on Monday and was replaced by Rishabh Pant as India inched closer to a 3-0 series whitewash on Day 3 of the third Test here.

Saha was hit on his finger by a Ravichandran Ashwin delivery in the 27th over of South Africa’s second dig and the 34-year old stumper was seen in some pain before walking off the field. Saha’s finger was already taped and after copping further blow, he could not continue.

UPDATE – Wriddhiman Saha has been replaced by Rishabh Pant who has taken a blow right on the end of the gloves.#INDvSA

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 21, 2019

Pant, who did not play a Test in this series, came on to replace him.

“Wriddhiman Saha has been replaced by Rishabh Pant who has taken a blow right on the end of the gloves,” a BCCI tweet said.

Saha has been brilliant in this series behind the stumps, especially in the second Test in Pune where he took a couple of excellent catches. The Bengal stumper has previously been out of the team due to a long injury layoff.

The visitors are on the brink of another embarrasing defeat as they got bowled out for a mere 162 in their first innings in reply to India’s 497/9 declared. In the second innings, Proteas are again in trouble having lost six wickets when the story was being written.

Published on: Oct 21, 2019 at 16:35 IST

IANS