Wriddhiman Saha was ruled out of the Indian cricket team’s one-off Test against Afghanistan due to injury and Dinesh Karthik was named as his replacement, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Saturday. The encounter will take place from June 14-18 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Saha suffered a right thumb injury while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. He was under observation by the Indian cricket team medical staff and the management has decided to give him adequate rest before the start of the England Test series.

According to sources close to the selection committee, MSK Prasad and Co are looking at the England tour, where Karthik could make the cut in the longest format also. Karthik was a surprise success when he played Test cricket in England in 2007. He had three half-centuries -- 60 at Lord’s, 77 at Nottingham and 91 at the Oval.

Saha’s recovery period is expected to be around five to six weeks.

Saha did not have a good outing in IPL 2018 where he scored 234 runs in 14 games and was dropped by the runners-up for his lack of performances.

Dinesh Karthik, on the other hand, will be brimming with confidence as he was the star performer for his franchise – Kolkata Knight Riders – and he scored a mammoth 498 runs in 16 matches to guide KKR to a third-place finish.

Karthik had last played a Test match way back in 2010 against Bangladesh but has had a prolific first-class record with 27 hundreds and over 9000 runs. In 23 Tests for India, he has scored 1000 runs with a hundred and seven half-centuries.