De Bruyn comes in as concussion substitute for Elgar
RANCHI: South Africa opener Dean Elgar has been replaced by Theunis de Bruyn as a concussion substitute. This was after the opener had to retire hurt post a knock on the helmet by a rising Umesh Yadav delivery just before the tea break on Day 3 of the third and final Test against India at the JSCA Stadium on Monday.
de Bruyn was part of the South Africa XI in the Pune Test where it lost by an innings and 137 runs. In the 10th over of South Africa’s second innings, Elgar, who was batting on 16, was struck on his helmet by a fierce bouncer from Umesh. The left-handed batsman immediately went to the ground. The Indian players rushed towards him to see if he was alright while the physio ran in.
During the break, Elgar retired hurt and was taken to a hospital for a concussion test. Debutant George Linde was sent to proceed the innings alongside Heinrich Klaasen for the final session of the day’s play.
Cricket rules for the World Test Championship were tweaked recently to allow players who suffer concussions during a match to be replaced in their team’s playing XI.
Later, India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha took a blow on the ring finger of his left hand and was replaced by Rishabh Pant.
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.
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“Wriddhiman Saha has been replaced by Rishabh Pant who has taken a blow right on the end of the gloves,” a BCCI tweet said.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.