Indian pacer Mohammed Shami will miss the upcoming two-Test series against South Africa due to an ankle injury, the BCCI confirmed on Saturday.

Shami, 33, was previously named to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) squad for the away series, but his inclusion was contingent on fitness clearance.

“Shami, whose participation in the Test series was subject to fitness has not been cleared by the BCCI Medical Team and the fast bowler is ruled out of the two Tests,” BCCI said in a press release.

He was instrumental in India’s recent World Cup campaign, taking 24 wickets in seven games to finish as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.

India won 10 consecutive games in the tournament before falling to Australia in the final.

The BCCI also announced that Deepak Chahar, a medium pacer, had withdrawn from the one-day squad due to a family emergency.

He was replaced by Akash Deep, who is already in South Africa with India A.

Shreyas Iyer, the batsman, will play in the first ODI but will miss the next two to prepare for the Test series, which begins on December 26.

On Sunday, the first of three One-Day International (ODI) matches begins in Johannesburg.

Captain Rohit Sharma, along with Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravichandran Ashwin, left for South Africa on Friday and are expected to play in a practice game in Pretoria on December 20-22.

India’s updated ODI squad for South Africa series: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C), Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep.

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