The All-India Senior Selection Committee named Dinesh Karthik as the replacement for the injured Wriddhiman Saha for the third Test in Johannesburg. The Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman will join the team ahead of the final Test, which begins on January 24.

Saha suffered a left hamstring tendon injury ahead of the second Test during training and was subsequently ruled out of the Centurion Test. His progress will be monitored by the BCCI medical team.

Parthiv Patel, who was picked as the backup wicketkeeper ahead of the tour, was called in for his services but had been pretty poor so far in the three days of the Test.

If Karthik is picked ahead of Parthiv for the final Test, this will be his first Test since 2010. His last Test was against Bangladesh in Chittagong. He has played 23 Tests so far and has 1000 runs at an average of 27.78 and one century to his name.

The decision to include Karthik in the squad for the third Test will also help him get acclimatised to the conditions before the limited-overs series where he's one of the candidates to take up the middle-order slot.