India call up Gurkeerat Singh Mann for the 2nd Test against South Africa

Gurkeerat has been called up for the Bangalore Test with Harsha Bhogle feeling that the all-rounder could well feature

25-year-old all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh Mann has been called up to the Indian squad for the 2^nd Test match against South Africa to be held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore from November 14, Cricbuzz reports.

Mann was a reserve player in the first Test at Mohali along with Punjab teammate Mandeep Singh as the state had no Ranji Trophy matches scheduled during the period of the Test match which the hosts won under three days to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series. The BCCI had released the Indian trio of Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Stuart Binny for the Ranji matches after they were left out of the playing XI at Mohali.

Mann has now been elevated to the status of a squad member in spite of the rest of the players maintaining their place in the squad as well.

The Punjab-born all-rounder has been on the fringes for quite some time after impressing for the India A side in their recent outings. He played a match-winning knock of 87 runs from 81 balls in the final of the triangular series against Australia A and followed it up with an all-round performance of 65 runs followed by a 5-wicket haul that eventually paved his way for a call-up to the Indian ODI team.

He failed to feature in any of the matches with limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni feeling that the all-rounder was not quite ready to make his international debut.

“Gurkeerat is there, but he won't get the chance right away. Having said that, it is good to have people like him who are multi-talented. For now, he will have to wait for his opportunity," Dhoni had said.

Popular cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, however, feels that Gurkeerat could get his chance in the longer format as Test skipper Virat Kohli could opt for the off-spinning all-rounder due to his batting as well adding more spin woes for the visitors.

Bhogle made his feelings known on the matter on his official Twitter account.

Including Gurkeerat Mann in the test squad can only mean India are actually thinking of six batsmen where one will need to bowl.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 12, 2015

One will have to wait till Saturday to see whether he features in the playing XI but one thing is certain – The long-awaited international debut for this talented cricketer is around the horizon, sooner rather than later.