THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: India's batting allrounder Deepak Hooda will be unavailable for the three-match South Africa T20 series that begins here on Wednesday.
Hooda, suffering from a back injury, has not travelled with the Indian team. It is learnt that he has instead travelled to National Cricket Academy (NCA). He will be replaced by Shreyas Iyer.
Hooda didn't feature in the playing XI in any of the three T20 matches against Australia. BCCI had mentioned on the eve of the final T20 game in Hyderabad that Hooda will be unavailable for selection. But with the Baroda star not travelling to Thiruvananthapuram, it seems he has still not recovered.
Though the extent of the injury is not known, it is a worrisome development for Team India with just three weeks to go for the World T20 in Australia.
The Indian team will also be without Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the series against South Africa as they have been rested and will be reporting at the NCA for conditioning-related work.
Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed has been added to the squad as a replacement for Pandya. Both Iyer and Shahbaz are expected to join the squad on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Shami is yet to recover from Covid and will continue to be on the sidelines.
Iyer's inclusion as the replacement for Hooda, would further disappoint local fans here as they have been demanding Thiruvananthapuram lad Sanju Samson's inclusion in India's World Cup squad.
(With inputs from Gaurav Gupta)
