South Africa’s Klaasen replaces injured wicketkeeper Rudi for India tour

Johannesburg, August 18

Wicketkeeper Rudi Second has been ruled out of South Africa’s Test tour of India in October due to an injury and Heinrich Klaasen will take his place in the squad, Cricket South Africa said.

The CSA said Second, one of the new caps in the Proteas squad announced on August 13 to play three Tests in India in October, has suffered an injury while practising with the South Africa A side. He will require immediate surgery and he has consequently been ruled out of the touring party.

Second’s place with be taken by wicketkeeper/batsman Heinrich Klaasen.

“Klaasen is part of the one-day squad for the South Africa A tour and he will now be added to the squad in Second’s place for the four-day series that will assist his preparation for the Proteas Test series,” said CSA Acting Director of Cricket Corrie van Zyl.

The Test series begins on October 2 in Visakhapatnam.

CSA also confirmed that the second Test will now be played in Pune (October 10-14) while the final Test will be held in Ranchi (October 19-23).

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also announced the switching of venues for the Test section of the tour. The second Test match will now be played at Pune and the final one at Ranchi,” the CSA said on its website.

Before the Test tour, South Africa will play three T20 Internationals from September 15 to 22 while South Africa ‘A’ team will play five one-dayers against India ‘A’ side from August 29 to September 6.

Klaasen is yet to make his Test debut and has featured in 14 ODIs and nine T20Is for South Africa. Second is a seasoned first-class campaigner and has featured in 105 games and has scored 6893 runs at an average of 45.05. PTI