Kumar, Dhawan opt out of 2nd Sri Lanka Test

KOLKATA: Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar and opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan Monday pulled out of India´s Test team for the second match against Sri Lanka due to personal reasons, the country´s cricket board said.

Kumar, who starred with a match haul of eight wickets in the drawn first Test in Kolkata, will miss the next two Tests while Dhawan is only available for the final game in Delhi.

"The BCCI would like to inform that Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan have been released from India´s Test team," The Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a release.

"The duo made a request to the selectors and the team management to release them owing to personal reasons," it added, without elaborating further.

According to reports in the Indian media, Kumar has taken a break to get married to his fiancee, Nupur Nagar, later this month.

Uncapped seam bowling allrounder Vijay Shankar has been added to the 14-man squad.

The second Test in Nagpur is scheduled to start Friday.

India Test squad for the second Test: Virat Kohli (Captain), Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-Captain), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar.